Lesson 5 (23/9/14)

Date : 23/9/14

Topic : Microscopy & Preparation of specimens for light microscopy & Staining

(p.s. The topic of microscopy is actually from previous lecture but I put it under this journal just to make myself clearer!)

Activities
1. Group mind map for external structure of prokaryotes

2. Individual mind map for internal structure of prokaryotes

(Tools to do mind map : examtime, mindomo, mind42, mindmaple, mindmeister, simplemind, mindmup, connected mind popplet, bubbl.us)

Notes

Species of microbes

• Treponema pallidum (a spirochete bacterium that cause treponemal diseases - syphilis, bejel, pinta, yaws ; only visible using dark field microscope)
• Anabaena (a genus of filamentous cyanobacteria that exists as plankton)
• Riftia pachyptila
• Metopus cilliate
• Rock-eating bacteira
• Neocallimastix
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis
• Streptococcus
• Pseudomonas
• Salmonella typhosus
• Helicobacter pylori (cause ulcers)

Terms in microbiology

• Resolution / resolving power (ability to distinguish between two adjacent points)
• Staining 
• Oil-immersion lens (increase resolution of a microscope by immersing both objective lens and the specimen in a transparent oil with high refractive index, can achieve magnification of 1000x or greater)

Random facts

• Types of microscopes
• Bright field (produce dark image against brighter background ; requires stain)
• Dark-field (produce bright image against darker background)
• Phase contrast (observe living cells and their internal structures)
• Fluorescence
• Ultraviolet microscope (greater resolution than conventional light microscope)
• Electron microscope
• TEM
• SEM
• Smallest bacterium in the world is Mycoplasma
• Basillus and Clostridium normallly produce endospores.
• G+ bacteria are usually rod-shaped while G- bacteria are usually coccus.

My own exploration

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Reflection on this topic

It actually takes me quite some time to do the mind map, maybe it's because I seldom do mind map when I study. I used to do mind map last time, but I found that it's very time-consuming, so I stopped doing mind map. Doing mind map can be simple and easy, just that I always procrastinate where to put the topic and how to design it. Plus, doing mind map needs to be really clear of the overall idea of the topic. So, before getting into it, I prefer to study the topics and get an idea first, then only draw it out.

Besides this, we were told by Dr. Wan to ask "Why" for every steps that we're going to do when carrying out an experiment or process. For example, why incubation must be done at 37°C?