By the end of the bacteriology section, students are expected to be able to:
- understand the main ways bacteria exchange DNA;
- understand the major structures of bacterial cells, their functions and assembly;
- recognize roles microbes play in the environment as well as in disease;
- appreciate the diversity of microbes;
- identify the growth phases of bacteria and how growth can be measured;
- understand the many ways microbes acquire nutrients from their environment;
- understand how bacteria communicate;
- understand the many ways bacteria regulate expression of their genes;
- integrate lecture material with the lab component.
By the end of the virology section, students are expected to be able to:
- identify major virus families and understand their structure, replication strategies and diversity;
- understand how viruses disseminate within the infected host organism and how they cause disease;
- understand how the host organism responds to virus infection and develops immunity to future infection by the same virus;
- understand the mechanisms by which some viruses evade host immune defenses;
- understand the strategies used to develop vaccines to protect against virus infections and to develop anti-viral drugs;
- understand the challenges faced in the global delivery of vaccines to eradicate select viral pathogens.