Bacterial Bioprospecting and Biotechnology

3 units

Bacteria are popularized as agents of disease, spoilage and decay. But in reality, bacteria are also incredibly beneficial. They’re essential in the food industry (fermentation of meats, cheeses, and beverages), agriculture (crop protection against weeds, pathogenic bacteria, and fungi), biotechnology (fine chemicals, cofactors, amino acids, and industrial enzymes) and the pharmaceutical industry (producing clinical antibiotics, anticancer, antiviral, veterinary, and immunomodulatory drugs and more). This course is designed to give students hands-on experience with beneficial bacteria. It provides immersive, experiential learning in translating basic biological understanding into the discovery of bacterial products and activities useful to humankind. Modern biotechnological research is multidisciplinary. This lab combines core concepts from biochemistry, bacterial genetics, bioinformatics, chemistry and enzymology to study bacteria from the genus Streptomyces and their close relatives. These organisms produce over 50% of our clinically utilized antibiotics, produce industrial enzymes, and are commercialized as agricultural biocontrol agents. Commitment: Six hours of laboratory plus one hour of computation/lecture/other lab time per week. Textbook: No textbook required. Students rely on handouts, whiteboard protocols and flow charts, plus assigned Journal Article and/or Review Article readings. At least two of the following courses are strongly recommended: Microbiology (Biol 3490), Organic Chemistry (Chem 1601/1602) and/or Biochemistry (Biol 4510 or CHEM 4810). This is an upper level, research-format microbiology laboratory course taught through the multidisciplinary lens of biotechnology. This course is designed as an NSF-CURE (Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience).