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And therefore, I conclude the end of my reflective journal for this semester :D Though I may not know a lot but I will continue to learn through the walks of my life as a university student. I am still adapting (already the end already still adapting, weird right?) but I hope to learn more in the future that is to come. Lastly to say, the end does not mean it's the end forever, it is just a new beginning for me to continue my travel. Thank you :D

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Never underestimate a fungus

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Next time you purchase white button mushrooms at the grocery store, just remember, they may be cute and bite-size but they have a relative out west that occupies some 2,384 acres (965 hectares) of soil in Oregon's Blue Mountains. Put another way, this humongous fungus would encompass 1,665 football fields, or nearly four square miles (10 square kilometers) of turf.

The discovery of this giant Armillaria ostoyae in 1998 heralded a new record holder for the title of the world's largest known organism, believed by most to be the 110-foot- (33.5-meter-) long, 200-ton blue whale. Based on its current growth rate, the fungus is estimated to be 2,400 years old but could be as ancient as 8,650 years, which would earn it a place among the oldest living organisms as well.

A team of forestry scientists discovered the giant after setting out to map the population of this pathogenic fungus in eastern Oregon. The team paired fungal samples in petri dishes to see if they fused ( see photo below), a sign that they were from the same genetic individual, and used DNA fingerprinting to determine where one individual fungus ended.

This one, A. ostoyae, causes Armillaria root disease, which kills swaths of conifers in many parts of the U.S. and Canada. The fungus primarily grows along tree roots via hyphae, fine filaments that mat together and excrete digestive enzymes. But Armillaria has the unique ability to extend rhizomorphs, flat shoestringlike structures, that bridge gaps between food sources and expand the fungus's sweeping perimeter ever more.

A combination of good genes and a stable environment has allowed this particularly ginormous fungus to continue its creeping existence over the past millennia. "These are very strange organisms to our anthropocentric way of thinking," says biochemist Myron Smith of Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. An Armillaria individual consists of a network of hyphae, he explains. "Collectively, this network is called the mycelium and is of an indefinite shape and size."

All fungi in the Armillaria genus are known as honey mushrooms, for the yellow-capped and sweet fruiting bodies they produce. Some varieties share this penchant for monstrosity but are more benign in nature. In fact the very first massive fungus discovered in 1992-a 37-acre (15-hectare) Armillaria bulbosa, which was later renamed Armillaria gallica -is annually celebrated at a "fungus fest" in the nearby town of Crystal Falls, Mich.

Myron Smith was a PhD candidate in botany at the University of Toronto when he and colleagues discovered this exclusive fungus in the hardwood forests near Crystal Falls. "This was kind of a side project," Smith recalls. "We were looking at the boundaries of [fungal] individuals using genetic tests and the first year we didn't find the edge."

Next, the microbiologists developed a new way to tell an individual apart from a group of closely related siblings using a battery of molecular genetic techniques. The major test compared fungal genes for telltale signs of inbreeding, where heterozygous strips of DNA become homozygous. That's when they realized they had struck it big. The individual Armillaria bulbosa they found weighed over 100 tons (90.7 metric tons) and was roughly 1,500 years old.

"People had ideas that maybe they were big but nobody had any idea they were that big," says Tom Volk, a biology professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. "Well it's certainly the biggest publicity that mycology is going to get-maybe ever."

Soon afterward, the discovery of an even bigger fungus in southwestern Washington was announced by Terry Shaw, then in Colorado with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and Ken Russell, a forest pathologist at Washington State Department of Natural Resources, in 1992. Their fungus, a specimen of Armillaria ostoyae, covered about 1,500 acres (600 hectares) or 2.5 square miles (6.5 square kilometers). And in 2003 Catherine Parks of the USFS in Oregon and her colleagues published their discovery of the current behemoth 2,384-acre Armillaria ostoyae.

Ironically, the discovery of such huge fungi specimens rekindled the debate of what constitutes an individual organism. "It's one set of genetically identical cells that are in communication with one another that have a sort of common purpose or at least can coordinate themselves to do something," Volk explains.

Both the giant blue whale and the humongous fungus fit comfortably within this definition. So does the 6,615-ton (six-million-kilogram) colony of a male quaking aspen tree and his clones that covers 107 acres (43 hectares) of a Utah mountainside.

And, at second glance, even those button mushrooms aren't so tiny. A large mushroom farm can produce as much as one million pounds (454 metric tons) of them in a year. "The mushrooms that people grow in the mushroom houses&133;; they're nearly genetically identical from one grower to another," Smith says. "So in a large mushroom-growing facility that would be a genetic individual-and it's massive!"

In fact, humongous may be in the nature of things for a fungus. "We think that these things are not very rare," Volk says. "We think that they're in fact normal."

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Strange but True: The Largest Organism on Earth Is a Fungus

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The blue whale is big, but nowhere near as huge as a sprawling fungus in eastern Oregon

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This week we studied on the Sterilization and Disinfectant. This time we had our classes in the meeting room and it was my very first time being in a meeting room of our faculty. What surprises me was that all the microphones are working. Well, you see, normally microphones don't work, at least in all the meeting rooms which I actually gained entry to. We had a great time this week. What do you say when we have two Microbiology classes in a day? Awesome? Hmmm.... Think first. But it is definitely not a boring class and the way we approach this topic was out of the ordinary. We did a quiz to learn the topic of Sterilization and Disinfectant more efficiently (I would say for those that actually read before the class) but for me, who did not read at all actually felt it was interesting because I remembered the key points quite effectively, at least not at the level of able to differentiate antisepsis and disinfection and etc but I did learn how to differentiate between Thermal Death Point and Thermal Death Time or even Decimal Reduction Time. This way of teaching really excites me but it would definitely be more effective if I studied first. So I will make sure that I myself will be prepared with all the knowledge that is needed while attending the class (Hope that I will not procrastinate next semester)

Besides using Kahoot, I think Quizlet live is another app that could cause your heart to beat like you are in the middle of a war field. You see, it is much more effective if we want to test our teamwork and collaboration because it is much more challenging than Kahoot. What makes this game heartbreaking is that they will minus marks with each wrong answer given. How unfair *I cries*

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Sterilization And Disinfectant - Lessons - Tes Teach

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sterilisation and disinfectant -G6 Flashcards | Quizlet..Group 2.sterilisation and disinfectant -G6 Flashcards | Quizlet.IMG-20161202-WA0003.jpg....Control of microbial growth Flashcards | Quizlet.Group 1 Done.group 6kahoot

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This week is the exam week. It was tough as we are getting more deeper into the microbial world which had always been a mystery to me. I didn't do very well in understanding about the viruses but I hope to be able to do well in my exam. Simply to say, I hope to find passion in Microbiology itself as well. So fast and its exam week. Not long after, then we will be facing our finals and that is the end of one semester. Just like that. POOF! One semester is almost over, and you will just sit down and think, hmmm... What did I do this semester. Just when I was finding my passion in Microbiology, one semester is almost over. It is the exam week, therefore, I have more on my mind than usual. Getting deep here, WATCH OUT. Sooooo, the exam was not that tough but it requires us to think more out of the box compared to the first test. How i wished this exam was similar to the first test but unfortunately life is not that good you see and by this, I think you understand what I mean. I am still waiting for my first test result to come out. Hope that it will be satisfying as my first test. I did quite well you see hahaha not that I am bragging but I do hope I can maintain this result and at the same time learn and not just study for the sake of exams only. It was a tiring week and I hope to rest well in the weekends later. Thank you.

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This week we studied about the virus. However, virus did not really leave any huge impact to me because the information was a little too limited. Therefore, I searched online a little about the Human Herpes Virus, which then sparked my interest to use this microbe as my adopted microbe. There are up to 8 types of Herpes Virus that infects humans and what triggers my interests are the HHV1 and HHV2 also known as the Herpes Simplex Virus and the HHV3, Varicella-Zoster Virus causes Shingles and Chicken pox and the Epstein-Barr Virus, HHV4 and lastly the Karposi-Sacroma associated Herpes Virus, HHV8. That is a lot, don't you think so too? Well just Herpes virus that affects humans already have eight types, what happened to the other viruses and the other pathogenic microbes such as the Fungi that causes athlete's foot or candidiasis by the Fungi Candidia albicans. Not only that, bacteria such as Yersinia pestis or even just Staphlyococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, organisms that we have played with in our lab classes. They are pathogenic as well. Now we can see that mankind is not that awesome after all. We make buildings like the Eiffel tower or even the tallest building ever, the Burj Kalifa, but you know what, we fall ill to microbes as small as I don't know, how many nanometers in size so much more smaller than us. You see, we are fighting a battle with the microbes since forever and we are still fighting today. Can we win this war? The existence of the superbugs should make us conscious about it. Well, its time to sit down and put on our thinking caps. We will realize that the world is actually always fighting a never-ending war with the microbes after all.

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This week we studied about the Fungi. Fungi includes a lot such as the Basidiomycota, Ascomycota and Lichens or Mycorrhizae and many more. Aspergillus might be the one that managed to leave a good impression as I remembered about it the most. There is also the Rhizopus stolonifer basically known as the bread mold. Mycorrhizae is important in the symbiosis between plant roots and Fungi where the Fungi helps to increase the surface area of plant to absorb water and minerals whereas Fungi receive nutrients from the plant as they can produce their own food by photosynthesis. Lichens are also important because it serves to detect the ecological health of a specific area. Many of my friends are cultivating their own Fungi in their room because Fungi's just keep growing on our food. Even by this semester, it has been three times I had grown my own Fungi unintentionally. There is one Fungi called the Aspergillus oryzae. It is always known as koji and is vastly used in the fermentation industry producing many asian beverages such as soju and also is used for the fermentation of soy beans producing soy sauce, an essential food in cooking. Lastly, there is the all times favourite Fungi, the Saccharomyces cerevisae, also widely known as yeast and it is abundantly used in food industries.

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I would say that not much happened this week as classes went on as usual until Dr. announced that we had to do our Pecha Kucha next week. Only then the ruckus happened. We continued our lesson on the Microbial Growth and all was good. Basically, to summarize this chapter is Microbial Growth is something that we learned already in lab class. All the medias such as the chemically defined media and the complex media where the chemically defined media is the media where we know the exact composition in the media and normally we use the glucose salt broth or the inorganic synthetic broth. Complex media is a media where we do not know the exact composition because they normally have extra minerals or vitamins in it to support the growth of various microbes. There are many agar that could support the growth of many microbes for example the fastidious microbes, Streptococcus is cultured in the blood agar where the blood that we obtained is from a horse blood and how do we know that it is sterile? Because the instruments used is all sterile and the blood itself is already sterile therefore no further aseptic techniques will be used unless we want to which is by using the filtration method which could remove most microbes except for the viruses. We also have the Eosin methylene blue agar to cultivate E.coli that shows positive results through the formation of a metallic green sheen. There is also the MacConkey agar and many more.

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This week my the first week the Pecha Kucha was done and it is being held in the seminar room 1.4 I was very nervous and couldn't remember a single thing that I memorized because I am not prepared for this presentation at all where just yesterday, I had a Biochemistry presentation. It was the first time our Dr. Zetty knew about Kahoot and it surprised her what it was. Dr. Fairul was also in the room as spectators to our presentation. This week Dr. also thought us about the microbial growth where Dr. explained in details about the anaerobic cultivation of microorganisms. Now, for just a brief introduction about my microbe which I adopted, it is the Human Herpes Virus which is vastly known to cause a very deadly sexually transmitted disease. After much research about this microbe, I knew so much more. It is also the cause of Chicken pox. Imagining something that is normally said to be acquired through sexual contact is actually from the same family of virus which is responsible for causing Chicken pox. They are more related than we could think. Not only that, SLE, Systemic Lupus Erythomatosus, which is said to infect the immunocompromised are also caused by the virus of the same family. This is the main reason why I chose this virus because it is related to diseases which I had encountered with and it makes me want to know more about it. It may be like a brief introduction to Virology, hmmm who knows? It might be a useful piece of information that I will use one day.

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Somewhere in the world there is war, there is riots and there is hunger, but I can say that everywhere in the world there is this destruction. Small, mini or micro but deadly. They remains as decades passed and never ceased to exist.Capable of stealing many lives of our loved ones. The Herpes Human Virus from the family of Herpesviridae is undoubtedly one of the most dangerous virus out there that brings destruction.

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The danger of microbes, Neisseria gonorrhoeae #14

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The danger of microbes, Neisseria gonorrhoeae #14

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"How interesting are the microbes" I thought to myself, especially those that are pathogenic. Watch out for microbes, they are everywhere.

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This week was hectic. There were so many presentations even just after we went back home to rest for this four days holiday, so, the holidays were not enough to rejuvenate me and make me feel refreshed again. The Pecha Kucha this week was good as many were much more prepared compared to  last week when presenting and they were not as nervous anymore compared to when we first heard about this task. I learn't many new things from this presentation as there were many microbes that I never knew about. To summarize what I feel about Pecha Kucha, I totally agree with Dr. that this time, it was all cramped into the final week and it was not as effective as it will be compared to when being done each week where every week, few people will be presenting. However, Pecha Kucha was new to me and if I was given another chance again, I will do it better as I was not satisfied with my own presentation. Few of my friends did really well and I felt that some microbes did leave a huge impact to me where I hope I will remember for the longest that I can. Iman did on the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae and I found that really interesting besides my own microbe, definitely the Herpes Simplex Virus. There were many that presented about the bio-luminescence bacteria which really emits pretty lights and is often found in a squid.

It is the last lesson and the last week of Microbiology for this semester and I would like to say that my decision was not wrong when I chose Microbiology as my choice among all the programmes offered by the Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences. I really enjoyed my time in the class and I would like to say honestly that it was not easy as there are many assignments that needs to be done BUT I learned a lot and I would like to be involved in more programmes that will be held for us Microbiology students. Making newsletters, Pecha Kucha and Virtual Microbes were heavy work but it was a satisfying experience where I learned a lot especially on the technology savvy part. I hope that I will enjoy my time as I continue to walk down this path as a student of this faculty and especially a student of this programme. Last but not least, a huge Thank You to Dr. Wan for making me enjoy and understand the world of microbes.

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A little bit to share about the mind map of the Protists.

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We couldn’t find the page you were looking for. This is either because:

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This week is the last week before we go off for our holidays. For the microbiology class this week, we had our class on Monday and Wednesday. For the Monday class, we did our class in the computer lab and when Dr. Wan asked what did we do about the Protists notes that she gave, some of us answered that we highlighted it, some have read through and some just flipped through. Even worse, there is one person who said that he only printed it out. Therefore, we are asked to do a short summary of what we are going to learn using a platform which we think that it is the way which we will learn best. My group did the summary in the form of the mind map in Popplet and I will attached what we did below. I think that it is quite complete and it could be referred to when studying. Then it is Wednesday. The class was held early because most of us had already made plans later in the afternoon. we were asked to write terms and definitions of what we remembered on Protists in the app called Quizlet. Then, we were asked to move around giving other group members what information we have and they don't, so that we will learn more together. Suddenly, we were asked to do a test in Quizlet and i was shocked because I was not prepared. However, in Quizlet, we are able to read first before answering and i feel that Quizlet is very effective in helping me learn about something because I could test myself afterwards. Here is also a link to the flashcards that we did on Quizlet and I feel that many could benefit from it. Thank you.

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Quizlet has study tools to help you learn anything. Improve your grades and reach your goals with flashcards, practice tests and expert-written solutions today.

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This is the week after exam and the exam results are not out yet. I am so far relieved that I do not have to face that thing yet. This Wednesday, we had our first lesson on the Eukaryotes and we basically just learned about their structures and their morphological characteristics. This time Dr. wanted us to share whatever findings we have on Blendspace so that everyone would be able to obtain the same knowledge and no one is missed out on anything because sharing is caring. Whatever we learned, we will share it on Blendspace and we can make it our site to learn something new about the Eukaryotes. We somehow took a bit more time than expected and the 1 hour and 30 minutes lesson of the Eukaryotes are gone in the blink of an eye. Time really do flies in Dr. Wan's class. We members of group 4 have to learn more on coorperativity and team work and learn to discuss all our opinions first and dividing jobs equally to all the team members. After that, we had our first encounter with the app Kahoot. It is so interesting and challenging The first time Dr showed us Kahoot, non of us even get what was happening and the questions just passed by without us even noticing. Somehow, the can say wisest guy in our class, Haziq got the highest marks. Impressive because non of us know what is happening and then all of a sudden Haziq's name just popped up and was shown on the screen as the winner.

Then, it was Friday, where we were supposed to play games that are beneficial to us because it incorporates the lesson on the Eukaryotic's characteristics into the game. The first few games was a bit messy and could say did not happen as well as expected but as the games proceed, the others learnt from the other group's mistake and took advantage of it therefore the efficiency of the games increased. I really like how this class was conducted because it allows a healthy competition to happen and we were able to learn more than what we could when we read the notes provided. This is because we can identify which part of the topic that we are weak in and in return try to work harder in it. We can also identify which topic that we have forgotten and we also get to know our coursemates better. I hope that we would be able to play more of this game in the near future. Once in a while, a game in between the many weeks of lesson is a good way to recharge our energy. All in all, it was a fruitful day to me. After having a hard day in the morning due to the volunteer work in the national zoo, it was a class which I would never could have slept in no matter how tired I was. That is just how interesting this class is. Thank you.

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my microbe journal special (Chill Out Microbe)

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my microbe journal special (Chill Out Microbe)

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It is a Sunday morning, a wonderful morning perfect for the Chill Out Microbe event. I reached the place a field where we all gather around 8am and register. They had prepared the breakfast for us which include the currypuffs and the Gardenia bread. Then we were ask to queue up in lines according to our Academic adviser or Penasihat academik. We then did aerobics lead by Abang Nasir which i met him during the special event (The Biotech Corp Trip) I enjoyed the aerobics very much and i get to move around so early in the morning. It was a healthy event. After that we moved on to the games. we were in charged of the first game and then the second game requires us to play with flour (Do not MISUSE flour people) I had to dig my into the flour and my whole face were covered with flour the moment the game finished. What is the most funny thing that happened to me that day is Dr. Wan wanted to throw flour at me when i was standing alone staring blankly at space. Luckily, Bernard was there to help me by calling my name and i realised Dr. was coming towards me so i RAN. I ran as far as i could then I managed to get away. However, the next moment i realised, Dr. Wan was covered in flour. I think some seniors had played the same trick with Dr. Later after all the games, our team, team 2 combined with Prof. Tan and Prof. Raja group of mentees were announced fourth place winner and I got quite a number of junk food to be able to bring back home. I got sun burned in this event and i got darker. When i got back home, my parents asked how did I got so tanned? Well, all in all, it was a very fun event and my Sunday was used meaningfully. The relationship between my classmates got better through this event and I appreciate it alot.
Thank you.

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This is week 5 and it is the exam week. The microbe exam is on Friday and this week, on Monday, there is an extra class. The focus of this week is the extracellular and intracellular structure of the prokaryotes. On Monday, for the replacement class, we were asked to do a mindmap in the beginning of class. Each group will have to come out in front of the class and then we were asked to do it spontaneously without referring to any books and just based only on our memory. it was a very useful event and i liked it very much. It forces us to remember back whatever we have read and it helps us to identify what we have forgotten.

Then, it is the class on Wednesday. Dr. continue explaining about the intracellular and extracellular structure of prokaryotes. There are some things which are new to me such as the group translocation and the inclusions such as the starch granules, sulfur granules and etc. I also learned some new bacteria species which i have never heard before such as the Aquaspirillum magnetotacticum.  Then, it is Friday. It is exam time and i felt very nervous when i step into the exam hall. I did not finish studying  the nomenclature notes and therefore, I felt that i was not well prepared. It was even worse that when Friday morning after class at 10, I wasted alot of time by sleeping and having my lunch >.< i could have use more time on my revision than using it by eating for one hour when i could eat for like 30 minutes.

When I step into the exam hall, and open the paper when Dr. said that we could check our exam paper, I was trilled that the subjective just requires us to match the functions. Although, it was not that easy but it was better than what i had imagined. A sense of relief flowed through me. I am not sure whether did I do well on the exam or not but I think I did the best that i could. So, I prayed that I will get a satisfying results and my hard work will pay of. Thank you.

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I used the virtual lab for the experiment on how to use the oil-immersion microscope. Firstly, it brings me back to when i was still seven years old or standard 1 in primary school, where last time e-learning was the using of CD-Rom and not the internet as not everyone have internet back when i was still young.

I did learn something through this virtual lab, not a lot as it was not me doing the experiment by myself but it was me holding and moving the mouse when the application needed it. Firstly, i learnt the reused slides needed to be autoclaved first before being used again. What is an autoclave??? According to the virtual lab, it is a pressurized vessel that uses steam and extremely high temperature to sterilize objects. it is normally set to be used at 121'C for 15 minutes and 100kPa (15psi) The bacteria present in the yogurt used in the virtual lab consists of coccus and rod shaped bacteria. It seems that there is some bacteria stained pink inside the yogurt sample thus it contains Gram-negative bacteria which normally are phatogenic because they have capsules and thinner peptidoglycan causing the stains easily removed by alchohol and the counterstain safranin easily attached to the outer membrane or the cell wall of Gram-negative bacteria which consist of thin lipopolysaccaride and peptidoglycan.

The yogurt had been suspected containing either Escherichia coli or Salmonella sp. These bacteria should be killed during pasteurization at 60'C but they are present in the yogurt because the yogurt might not be kept in a sterile or clean environment. The pasteurization equipment might also be contaminated. Therefore, there are growth of bacteria even after pasteurization.

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hello it is the fourth week and next week is exam. i still don't really know what is happening but i hope i can do well in whatever tests that i am going to face later next week. oh and i did use Popplet for the very first time in my life,,, it is so interesting and useful if i want to make mind maps online.

it is very reassuring that Dr. decided to do back on the history of microbiology and on microscopy. I really do feel that it did helped me alot. this time i feel that i could recall and remember more about the infomation much more than before. it let me traces back to week 1 where we learn about John Needham and his theory on Spontaneous Generation, Lazzaro Spallanzani and Louis Pasteur. I learnt about their great works and how it is beneficial to the world today. I learnt about how Louis Pasteur helped in the wine and fermentation field and how we have vaccination today due to the contributions of Edward Jenner.

Not forgetting that today i answered the questionaires by Dr. online and it made me realised that after attending UPM my technology skills improved and skyrocket-ed. i really need to thank Dr for giving me this opportunity to use the apps in the computer or laptop to its fullest. i also hoped that my knowledge in microbiology will be like my skills in using the computer increased tenfolds. it really is disappointing that i couldnt managed to observe the microbes under my microscope in the lab this week but i hope that the next time i will succeed. nonetheless, it is another satisfying but tiring week for me.
thank you.

by: Tiow Zhi Xuan (jasmine)

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it is the third week already,,, it just shows how time flies. it was peer teaching the other day and on Friday is our meet up to discuss about the virtual microbes project with the other universities which we are collaborating with such as UM and UKM. it was such a big project since this involves the collaboration of students of different courses throughout all Malaysia. everyone is excited and it does not exclude me as well. I was anticipating it when i was sitting in the Dewan Kuliah Utama waiting for the technicians to work everything out.

The other students from the different universites felt the same way as us, the feeling of being in the microbiology class for the very first time. they are full of concerns and questions however none of them asked any when Dr. Wan asked if they need any clarification. what shocked me the most was the students from UM just shoot up from 17 students to like 75 students? woah,,, it was such a huge difference in number and it just prooves that we are getting alot of support for this event for sure.

then came the microbiology class in the afternoon, wow, Dr. Wan just entered the class, switched on her Macbook and then surprise!!!!! it is a pop quiz. i am very sad that i didnt manage to do well in that quiz. although Dr. Wan said that not everything that we do will be graded, it still feel dissapointing that i couldnt differentiate the micrographs of the different microscopes. i am having a hard time memorising microscopy compared to the names of the bacteria. i hope Dr. Wan will discuss more on microscopy and their micrographs much more deeply in the next class. there is a new bacteria name that i learned this week,,, guess what? it is the bacteria which causes syphillis, the treponema pallidum with its family name the spirochetes. hmmm it is so new to me hahah :D

its another enjoying week of the journey to understand microbes. i hope the microbe world will continue to be more interesting and i will help me to gain my interest to study it. thats all from me today, thank you.

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my microbe journal special (presentation on microscopy)

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my microbe journal special (presentation on microscopy)

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it was a Wednesday and Dr. Wan is with her other microbes students which are also my beloved second and third year seniors on their trip to UTM. She had entrusted an assignment for us making sure that we still go to class like usual although she isn't even there to fascilitate us. we are told to do a peer teaching session where we help each other to understand the topic microscopy more deeply.

the session started with group one which is Bernard's group introducing microscopy to the class and then continued following the numbers of the groups in ascending order. not only there are many microscopes invented after the one created by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek but there are also many new functions to the microscopes opening up a new path and a new discovery for microbiologists. my group is in charged of presenting the bright field light microscope. it is a microscope which is always used in our laboratory be it in primary school up to pre-university level. this is because the bright field light microscope is cheap and easily obtained. however, there are some flaws with this microscope. firstly, it has a low contrast with the specimen thus to increase the contrast so that the microorganisms can be seen clearly, we have to stain it. however, staining kills the microorganisms therefore by using the bright field light microscope we cannot observe the motility of the microorganisms but it allows us to observe the basic shapes of the microbes. the resolution of the bright field microscope is low causing the images formed sometimes be blurry since the resolution is the ability to distinguish between two adjacent points in a cell.

staining also divides into three which is the differential staining, special staining and the simple staining. many types of stains are used and normally we use the chromophore. basic chromophores are what we normally hear because methylene blue, safranin, crystal violet are all under basic chromophores but they are positively charged ion.

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this is the second week of my microbiology I class. its a holiday this friday therefore there is only one class this week. how unfortunate.

what i learnt today is that bacteria produces endospores when their living conditions is not in their favour. the endospores could last hundreds of years according to Dr. Wan and when the conditions become favourable again the endospores will germinate and become the bacteria again. the blue green algae also known as the cyanobacteria is actually under the kingdom monera and is actually a bacteria however it is a photosynthetic bacteria. under unfavourable conditions, the bacteria sometimes changes shape to protect itself but only certain bacteria manage to do so because the peptidoglycan cell wall of bacteria prevents it from changing shape. only bacteria with no peptidoglycan cell wall can do so. the archaea can live in extreme conditions because of its morphological structure. the cell wall of archaea is the pseudopeptidoglycan or the pseudomurein. it is a new fact to me. i never knew what the cell wall of an archaea's made of.

not to mention my groupmates said something interesting about pneumonia is actually a disease caused by a protozoa. the fungi are really special especially the diatomes fungi which have a cell wall made of silicon. besides, there are also fungi known as the basidiomycota and the ascomycota. nowadays algae are used to produce biofuel, another advantage of microbes in our daily life. there is also about the earthly smell of the soil. i had just found out today that it is caused by a bacteria that is abundantly found in soil which is the actinomysin. rhizobium sp. plays an important role in agriculture as well since it is one of the nitrifying bacteria.

thank you for today's class Dr. it is really surprising when you came up to me and tell me about what i wrote on my reflective journal #1 and when i found out that you read it. however, what you told me today is really reassuring. i hope that i can do better in class and i will love the microbe world. all in all, it was also another fulfilling two hours class. thank you :)

by: tiow zhi xuan (jasmine)

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my microbe journal (a trip to the Biotech Corp)

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my microbe journal (a trip to the Biotech Corp)

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hello everyone, its time to write my reflection about my memorable trip to the Biotech Corp which is located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur and it is my very first journey out of UPM after my three week of studies.

i never realised that there is a biotechnology company just near jalan Ampang the place which i passed by everyday. it was not an event which i can even predict how it would turn out. it was a really fun time for me and what fascinates me the most is how our   ideas which we never thought we could even think of just pops out  and rapidfire like an M17. we learn alot form Mr Juara and it really feel awesome to be able to be a part of a team that contributes to the publishing of the book "The Biotech Career Handbook". the Biotech Corp allows me to think further about my journey in life if i continue to persue my life in the Biotech field and it makes me think whether i want to promote Biotechnology to the people around me who is totally clueless about it. after this event it makes me want to tell more people that Biotechnologist are really needed in the future. who would you count on if they are no Microbiologist carrying out many researches on the medicine to cure many diseases by identifying the pathogens first.

the service they all provided is really nice and it makes all of us feel very welcomed and not left out. to add to the credits of being there, there are two seniors in my team, Fatin and Nasir, which really opened up our mind about the career microbiology students can do. our job scope is really wide and we, as students, are getting more realistic these days because the basic salary we, as Biotech students get, really matter to us. (the most important thing needed in the handbook - this is determined by votes) and the people we feel needed this career handbook the most is the jobless undergraduate students.

i am proud to say that Mr Juara thinks our content in the handbook might be useful to him and he really appreciated our help as much as we appreciate him for giving us the chance to experience something new. this is all for me, please feel free to read my thoughts on this wonderful and exciting journey to the Biotech Corp.

by: tiow zhi xuan (jasmine)

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its my second time in a microbe class this week and my interest in microbes are increasing. i really hope that i will like this course. i am having a hard time right now into trying to accept this course as it is not a programme that my parents encourage me to get into.

what i learnt today is that microbe students not only study about bacteria and virus but fungi and protozoa are also in our field of study. i learnt that food spoils even if we put it in the refrigerator due to psychrophiles a bacteria which can survive in extreme cold conditions and there is thermophillic bacteria which survive in hot springs and volcano. the strongest bacteria exists out there is a bacteria which can even stands radiation, the deinococcus radiodurans. the largest bacteria out there is the thiomargarita namibiensis.

i learned about microscopy and the first microbiologist is leeuwenhoek which was the first person to discover cells using his handcrafted microscope but the first person to actually invented the first official microscope was robert hooke who is famous for discovering the cell arrangement which resembles the arrangement in the cork that he had seen under his microscope.

however, i sometimes feel abit blurr because i do wonder how will i sit for exams. i love dr's classes but i am still not used to the non lecture style teaching. this is because all my life throughout my studies i have not experienced classes like these. i am scared that i cannot cope with my studies. i will ask myself is the notes enough? do i need to study more about information outside the notes given? how is the test like? i still do not know how should i study. i do hope that i can get my first class because i want my ptptn to be turned into a scholarship. therefore i will need to focus in my class but it is just too different. however maybe university style is not like matriculation and spm and i understand that tests are not all it is but still it is hard to change the way of thinking that has been in our mind for the past 18 years.

i am truly very sorry if i have said anything inappropriate. i really do feel everything is new to me. i hope that i will adapt to the change successfully. thank you.

by: tiow zhi xuan (jasmine