Adopt a Microbe Project

Finally today I have presented about my adopted microbe which is Borrelia burgdorferi. It is quite nervous to present in DKU, but like Dr. Wan said, that was the idea. Somehow I think it is not that scary to present in enormous hall because the audiences are my friends too (-__-) A lot of things I have learnt from doing Adopt a Microbe scrapbook until presenting the 3MT. Besides I am not only learning about my microbe only, but also being introduced with other friends' adopted microbe such as Clostridium botulinum, Tersicoccus phoenicis and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Each of the microbes choosen by my friends has its own speciality. Like Tersicoccus phoenicis is the rarest microbe where it is found in the spacecraft. I am glad that I can share about my microbe even it is a common one. But I think I have shared something that my classmates do not learn in class yet. For example how the Lyme disease can be transmitted from tick to animal, why this bacteria has high virulence factor and the antibiotics to cure the disease. For this Adopt a Microbe project I read a lot of journals especially that I search from scoop.it, this is due to every journal has different main point that they want to discuss. Thus, in order to really understand about my adopted microbe, a lot of reading is needed. I think I really enjoy doing 3MT because I get the chance to tell everyone about my adopted microbe. 

In conclusion, this project has given me a lot of new experience and knowledge which I would remember and cherish it in my live. To end my last reflective journal, I would like to say million thanks to Dr. Wan and Dr. Fairol that has taught us for this semester. Although it is my first time learning from Dr. Wan and Dr. Fairol but I am really happy and grateful to learn from them.

With love,
Izzah.

A trip to Yakult Factory

It was Monday morning that we embarked our journey to Yakult Factory in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan. I love everything about Japan, thus I am very excited to visit this factory since Yakult was originated from Japan. For me, it was a bless that Minoru Shirota found Lactobacillus casei in 1930 and turn it into delicious healthy drink. Yummy! As soon as we arrived the factory, we were led to a lecture room to hear a lecture about Yakult. A lot of information that I  gathered from the lecture. Probiotics are good bacteria and there are some requirements to be it such as need to reach the intestine alive, help in digestion and help in immune system. So, in Yakult drink, it has L. casei. The word lacto means milk, bacillus is the shape of bacteria and casei is cheese. L. casei are very special because they has high resistance to bile juice and gastric juice means it do not get affected by acidity or alkalinity. Because of that, they can reach our intestine alive without being interrupted. In Yakult, they add sugar as in glucose or fructose to act as source of energy for L. casei. The bacteria will undergo fermentation and they produce lactic acid. Consequently, lactic acid has advantages for human such as can improve gut metabolism and decrease harmful bacteria. In conclusion, L. casei gives us great advantage as in they show the video about a kid that has short intestine problem where his intestine is cut into 60cm and experience diarrhea about 12 times a day. But when he drinks Yakult, his diarrhea is decreased to four times only.

After about 2 hours, we finished our tour. We got to see the giant machine to store the drink and so on. Then, photo session! Took a picture with classmates as a memory with beautiful sakura flower. The best thing is we got to buy Yakult at special price! Yeah, of course I do buy a dozen. Really enjoy this trip and hope we can have this kind of trip again. Bye, thank you.

With love,
Izzah 

Principles In Ecology

It has been a long time we don’t meet Dr. Wan formally. Finally today, we get to meet Dr. Wan again…yeay...what a blast! We learn about Principles in Ecology and what is so special about it is, my friends are going to teach me! We are distributed into groups and need to find some extra information about particular topics. I am teaching my friend about the hierarchy of ecology. Basically, there are five level of organizations which are; species (organism), populations, communities, ecosystem and biosphere. Meanwhile, factors that determine the biosphere’s distribution are temperature, water, sunlight, wind, periodic disturbances, rock and soil. I also get extra information from my friends such as, amensalism is a type of negative interaction which symbiont A is not benefitted while symbiont B is neutral. For instance, the release of antibiotic. In addition, we also learn about ecosystem management where we consider the measures to improve and conserve our ecosystem. It is really important to take care of our ecosystem since it is very sick. If we do not take serious about this issue, then should we inherit a deteriorate Earth for the future generation? Somehow, I am grateful to learn this topic as I could see diversity and how dependence we are to each other in this ecosystem. All praise to Allah.

p/s: Test 2 for Microbiology is coming soon on 11/5. Hope can ace this time. 

With love,
Izzah

Topic 4 - Eukaryotic Cell

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh

Today, we learn on eukaryotic cell. For me, today’s lecture is the happiest studying time because we study while playing games. I gain a lot of knowledge and able to have fun at the same time. We play the games based on the topic given. The games that we play are Kahoot!, crossword, bingo,  flip card, musical chair and racing with organelles. My group has conducted the bingo game based on our topic under eukaryotic cell which is “Mitosis and Meiosis”. 

In microbial world, the eukaryotes are like protozoa, algae and fungi. Basically, eukaryotic cell has cilia and flagella, cytoplasm and organelles. What differentiates between eukaryotic cell with prokaryotic cell is, eukaryotic cell has membrane bound organelles like lysosome, vacuoles and chloroplast while prokaryotic cell is lacking in membrane bound organelles.

Eukaryotic flagella consist of 9 pairs of microtubules arranged in a ring plus two microtubules in the center (9+2 array). These flagella anchored to plasma membrane by a basal body and its movement is wavelike motion. Do not think that only prokaryotic cell can have cell wall, eukaryotic cell also have! But the cell wall in eukaryotes is much simpler such as fungi cell wall consists of chitin. Eukaryotes also contain sterols in the plasma membrane and with this cytoplasmic membrane they can do endocytosis, phagocytosis and pinocytosis.

The most special about eukaryotic cell is they undergo mitosis and meiosis which prokaryotic cells can never do that. Mitosis is to produce two daughter cells that are identical to the parent cell. This process is involved in growth and repair damaged tissue. On the other hand, meiosis is to produce daughter cells that have half the number of chromosomes as the parent cell. The significance of meiosis is to produce gametes (sperm and egg). In plants, gametes are not formed directly. Instead, meiosis produce spores and the mitosis produces gametes.

As an overall conclusion, now I am really really into Microbiology. I just love to gain knowledge about the microbes and always hope to encounter with more new things. With the end of eukaryotic cell topic, then it is also our last class with Dr. Wan. It has been 5 weeks already we learn Microbiology from her. Maybe 5 weeks is a short period but what she taught me along this time make me feel it like a life-long learning. I will retain the knowledge that she has gave because knowledge is more valuable than gold. Thank you Dr. Wan.

With love, Izzah.

Topic 3 - Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells (Part 2)

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

Assalamualaikum~

So today, I am going to continue my entry from last week about Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells.
This time, we learnt about components of prokaryotic cell. Before starting our lesson, we answered some questions to test our understanding on this topic.

I encountered some new terms such as glycocalyx, beta lactamase and teichoic acid. We also learn the differences between between gram +ve and gram -ve bacteria. Gram +ve bacteria has teichoic acid and lipoteichoic acid in its thick cell wall. Meanwhile, gram -ve bacteria has thin cell wall and contain lipopolysaccharides which acts as an endotoxin. The advantage that gram -ve bacteria has over gram +ve bacteria is, it has outer membrane and wider periplasmic space that enable them to avoid phagocytosis, resistant towards antibiotic and digestive enzymes. Beta-lactamase is a type of enzyme found in periplasmic space.This enzyme can digest beta-lactam ring in antibiotic. 

We also learn about flagella, glycocalyx, axial filaments and fimbriae and pili which are the structures external to the cell wall. On the other hand, structures internal to the cell wall are plasma membrane, cytoplasm, nuclear area, ribosome and inclusions. Now i know that there are actually many types of inclusion such as polysaccharide granule, lipid inclusions, sulfur granules, carboxysome, gas vacuoles and magnetosomes.

I do learn a lot of new things and really enjoying that.

Till next time, sayonara~
-izzah 

Topic 3 - Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells (Part 1)

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

Assalamualaikum

I can't wait to share my experience in studying about prokaryote. So, I write this journal before the prokaryotic cell topic is finished. 

Before getting into class, we have been assigned by Dr. Zuhainis to create a mind map about prokaryote. Actually I faced some incidents to finish the mind map. At first, I already have an account for Mindomo, thus I have planned to make the mind map using that app. But, when I am about to create the mind map, the app keep pop-up the window asking me to upgrade it. And I think is it because I'm using my old account? Later on, I realised that this Mindomo thing only allow me to make 3 free mind maps only since I am registered as student and i already create 3 mind maps already before this. Then, I managed to create my mind map using my friend's account, Lianton. Muchos gracias. ( This is my mind map: Prokaryotic Cell Mind Map )

Based on my mind map, what I have learnt about prokaryote are, they are non-membrane bound organelle, have cell wall, have flagella, divide by binary fission and they are bacteria and archaea. I also learn about components of prokaryotic cell. 

During our lesson on Thursday, we make an activity which is make a mind map on the whiteboard based on what we have written and understand about prokaryote. All of my classmates including me get up from our seats, grabbing the marker to write on the whiteboard. Although the result is quite messy with overlapping informations, but somehow I think it is pretty like a good activity. 

Next week, we are going to continue our learning on prokaryote and eukaryote, then I will update the new entry about it.

Till then, thank you for reading.

with love, Izzah 

Topic 2 - Microscopy

Bismillahirrahmannirrahim

Assalamualaikum

Today, I am going to share about my experience on learning about microscopy. So, Malik’s group has prepared us with a very illogical yet interesting and creative story about microscope. And the illogical part is, microbe has taken over the world and become Ironman. See? Like what I have wrote in my last entry about microbe taking over the throne. 

We have learnt about the microscope parts and different kind of microscope such as optical and electron microscope.  Thus, I have made a mind map to make me easier to understand about the differences of those microscopes. (Click on this link: My Microscopy Mind Map)

Bright field image

Dark field image

Phase contrast image

At the end of this lesson, we answer a quiz in group. I found that this topic is important because we will use and apply the microscopy techniques that have been learnt in our practical soon. The most exhilarating moment for me is, I can’t wait to go to Bioscience Institute to see with my own eyes the real various kind of microscopes, handle them and visualize the tiny cutie microbes.