BMS4005 Introduction into Microbiology Assessment Brief Semester 2, 2024-25 | BCU

Assessment 1 

Coursework – Lab Report

Weighting 60%

Submission Date: Monday, 07th April 2025 at 3:00 pm

Submission Details

Please upload a copy of your coursework to Moodle for plagiarism checking 

Feedback: You will receive feedback on your assignment via Moodle.
 
Submissions handed in between 1 and 24 hours late will be penalised by 5%.

Work handed in up to 5 working days after the deadline will be penalised by 10%. 

Work handed in more than 5 working days after the deadline: the work will be awarded zero

Assessment Title:  Identification of an unknown organism

Assessment Task: This assessment addresses the following 

Module Learning Outcomes:

• Describe and define cellular components and lifestyles of a range of microorganisms
• Explain how microorganisms are classified and identified
• Demonstrate understanding of the techniques used to isolate, grow and analyse microorganisms in the laboratory

Assessment Task

During the lab sessions, you performed a series of tests on an unknown organism. This exercise aimed to introduce you to some of the many tests we can perform on microorganisms to help us identify and characterise them. These tests also introduced you to the wide differences in the properties of different microorganisms. To help you interpret some of the tests, you were also provided with examples of positive and negative control organisms. 

This exercise aims to identify an unknown organism using a series of tests that have been performed in the lab. 

When writing your report, remember to include your student ID on the front page, but not your name. This assessment is subject to anonymous marking. 

Assessment Support

Workshops will take place where you will have the opportunity to use laptops to begin seeking information and planning your assignment. Members of staff will be available to offer guidance and advice. Please attend the session assigned to you in your timetable

1. Research: You will receive guidance in workshops on which reference material is most appropriate to use. Much of the information that you need to answer the questions / complete your assignment can be found in textbooks in the library. Websites contain very good sources of material; however, some are better than others, and ensuring that the information that you use is from reputable sources is vital. Research articles and reviews report on the most recent findings in the scientific field. You will be provided with brief guidance on how to access these sources of material, and although you do not necessarily need to use them for this assignment, you will need to use them for future assessments as you progress through the course.

2. Referencing: Accurately referencing the information sources that you have used in your work is essential and is a significant component of this assessment. This was covered in Semester 1 (Essential Skills module); however, you will receive brief instruction on how to do this, following the BCU Harvard referencing style, and there will be examples in the Help Guide.

3. Academic Writing:  This was covered in Semester 1; however, you will receive brief instruction on how to write in clear, scientific English and how to avoid writing in a conversational style. You will also receive guidance on how to correctly paraphrase and combine the information that you have gathered to structure your arguments. 

4. Plagiarism and Artificial Intelligence: During workshops you will receive instruction and guidance on how to avoid plagiarism. You will also discuss the use of A.I. to understand how this can help in your assignments, but also critically, to understand how and where you are permitted to use A.I. in your work.    

Identification of an unknown organism (80 marks)

To help you compile this section, space has been provided for each test, giving guidance on the information we would like you to provide/consider. To complete each section, you must:

Seek information on each test that you performed to find out how and why they work, and what they tell us about the organisms. 

A table with biochemical results will be provided to aid your investigation

Research each of the organisms listed below. 

For some organisms, you may struggle to find information for a particular test. Where this happens, concentrate on other tests and use logical deduction to eliminate as many choices as possible. 

Complete as much of this table as possible using the information you find during your research, and see which organism is the closest match to your unknown organism. 

Carefully explain how you arrive at your decision regarding the most likely identity of your unknown organism. 

Space has been set aside for each section to give you an idea of how much information you should include in your answers. If you need more room to complete your answers, you may continue writing, but keep the information relevant and concise.

How to identify your unknown organism. 

The key to solving this challenge is research. Your organism will be from the following list (organisms may be subject to change)

You will be assessed on how accurately you describe the tests, explain/interpret the outcome of each test and your conclusions. Once you have completed the table below, described and discussed each test and explained what organism you were given, answer the questions that follow. As this assessment requires significant amounts of research, you must include correctly formatted citations and references in the report. 

References should ideally be taken from textbooks or scientific journals / reviews. You may also use respectable internet resources such as government websites and scientific organisations e.g. the CDC (Centres for Disease Control in the US), HPE (Health Protection England) and company websites where  information relating to microbiological media may be found. Do Not Use Blogs or Other Non non-scientific resources, as the information May Be Inaccurate. Do Not Use Lecture Notes As a Reference for information used

Total marks available: 80

Code of unknown organism:………………………………

Colonial morphology (2 Marks) 

• Using the guidance in the lab guide, describe the appearance (colony characteristics) of your organism in the space below:

Gram stain (Total  marks 10)

• What appearance (shape, & Gram reaction) is your organism (2)
• Using citations, explain how the Gram Stain works (8) 

Spore stain (Total 6 marks)

• Does your organism have a spore (1)
• What is an endospore (2)
• Explain how endospore staining works (3)

Aerobicity (Total Marks 3) 

• Using the thioglycolate broth, what growth conditions did the organism grow in and why? (3)
• The next three questions concern the SIM Agar 

Motility (Total marks 2)

• Is your organism motile (1)
• How do bacteria move (1)

Reduction of sodium thiosulfate and production of hydrogen sulphide (Total marks 5)

• Is your organism a hydrogen sulphide producer (1)
• What are the two main elements in the SIM agar that serve as indicators for a positive reaction (1)
• Using a citation, explain why a laboratory would use this test to differentiate Salmonella spp from Shigella spp and what are the limitations of the test (3)

Indole test (Total marks 5) (Refer to SIM tube after Kovac’s reagent has been added)

• Is your organism indole positive or negative? (1)
• Using appropriate citations, explain the biochemical reaction of indole and describe the mechanism of the reaction. (4)

Carbohydrate Fermentation test (CFT) (Total marks 5)

• Is your organism a carbohydrate fermenter? (1)
• Did it produce an acid? (1)
• What lowers the pH of the test medium (1)
• In a positive reaction, certain end products are formed: Name 4 with an appropriate citation (2)

Urease production (Total marks 5)

• What kind of reaction did your organism produce (1)
• Using appropriate citations discuss the mechanism of the test (4)

Oxidase test (Total marks 6)

• Is your organism positive or negative (1)
• With an appropriate citation, briefly discuss how the mechanism of the test works (4)
• What are the limitations of this test (1)

Catalase test (6marks)

• What is catalase and why is it important to some organisms (1)
• Discuss the mechanism and write out the chemical equation of the test using citations (4)
• Explain why the test is not recommended when using blood agar plates (1)

Conclusion Part 1:  (Total Marks 10)

• In a deductive and diagnostic manner discuss how you identified the unknown Organism 

Conclusion Part 2:  (Total Marks 10)

What other relevant tests could you do to identify the unknown organism. Provide 2 examples and mechanisms of the tests

References (Including in-text citations and quality of sources, Formatting, Grammer) (5 marks)

Assessment Support

Pre Labs and Workshops will take place where you will have the opportunity to experience various tests and organisms. In the workshops you will have an opportunity to go through the explanations of the tests and material to answer the questions the brief has stated. Members of staff will be available to offer guidance and advice. Please attend the session assigned to you in your timetable

Assessment 2 

In-Person Group Poster

Weighting 40%

Submission Date: Monday, 12h May 2025 at 15:00 

Poster Presentation: The week of 12th  May 2025 – Times and dates to follow  

Assessment Title:  Group Presentation of poster: Design and name your pathogen

Assessment Task This assessment addresses the following

Module Learning Outcomes:

• Describe and define the cellular components and lifestyles of a range of microorganisms
• Demonstrate understanding of the techniques used to isolate, grow and analyse a range of micro-organisms in the laboratory  
• Define the roles of microbes as commensals & pathogens, and the mechanisms by which they interact with the host  

Group Poster Assessment Brief:

• In groups of no more than 5 and no less then 4 you will work together to create a poster about a pathogen you have designed and present it via a presentation  
• Your Presentation must be no shorter than 8 minutes and no longer than 10 minutes
• Your group members must sign a proforma document upon submission, stating the contribution of each member. Every member of the group will receive the same mark unless it is deemed that the contribution from each member is not equal.

Times for presentations will be given out closer to the time 

The aim of this exercise is to develop your knowledge and understanding about the different strategies that pathogenic microorganisms have evolved to circumvent the body’s defences and how they cause damage to the host. To accomplish this, you must design your own pathogen using information that you have learned through research in journals and textbooks. Avoid using poor-quality, non-peer reviewed web sites to seek information for your poster. 

To design your pathogen, you must firstly decide which part of the body your pathogen will infect and then undertake research on the pathogens that are already known to affect that area. For example, if you wished to design a pathogen that affects joints, you will need to find out about the pathogens that are already known to affect joints and find out what special adaptations they have evolved to assist them during infection. You should also give your pathogen a binomial (latin) name (e.g. Escherichia coli). Often, the species names of organisms give some clue to their properties such as Clostridium tetani causes tetanus, Vibrio cholerae causes cholera, Corynebacterium glutamicum produces large quantities of glutamic acid that can be produced industrially in large fermenters etc. 

Remember to Write Bacterial Names in Intalics The Genus Starts with a capital latter The Species Starts with a small Letter.

Presentation of your work will be in the form of a poster and instructions for how to design the poster are below.

Designing the poster

Posters are intended to convey information very quickly, so that the reader may get the important message without having to read large amounts of text. Posters feature heavily in many research conferences because delegates can quickly find out about different projects in a short time and may then talk with the authors of the posters to get more detail about the project. To encourage other people to read your poster, please follow the following:

• Remember to put the title and author at the top of the poster.
• Visually attractive design.
• Keep the information content as simple and concise as possible.
• Use clear, well-labelled diagrams and figures.
• Do not write paragraphs of text; it is often more helpful to use bullet points to summarise a series of points.
• Don’t pack information too close together. It will make the poster difficult to read and process the information.
• “Less is more”. Just enough information to get the message across, but no more. The person reading the poster can ask you to elaborate on anything that interests them.
• Avoid making posters too “noisy”, i.e. avoid too many colours and distracting effects. Keep colour choices subtle but contrasting.
• Make sure the poster is easy to read from a distance – use contrasting colours. For example, grey text on a light background or dark text on a dark background will be very difficult to read.
• Cite all figures, tables and charts that you have taken from elsewhere. Failure to do this will result in a deduction of marks.
• Avoid the temptation to get influenced by the content of fantasy comics and keep your pathogen design plausible.
• Choose a font that is easy to read from a distance, e.g. Arial, Calibri or Verdana. Avoid ornate fonts / scripts as they are hard to read from a distance. 

What you should include in your Poster

• Please design your assignment using Microsoft PowerPoint or a compatible program. DO NOT USE Microsoft Word or any other word-processing software.
• Your name and the title of poster
• Brief introduction describing the part of the body that your pathogen infects, describing defence mechanisms that protect that part of the body from colonisation and infection
• Example: defences of the GI tract include stomach acidity, the Gut-Associated Lymphoid Tissue (GALT), antibacterial peptides, bile salts and several other factors
• In the Intro, you should briefly mention the numbers and types of commensal organisms present (if any) – they may help keep pathogens at bay!
• Name of your pathogen
• Describe the key properties of your organism. Think back to the experiments we did in the lab but also include information that you have found during your research.
• How do we grow your pathogen in the lab? Atmosphere? Media? Is it easy / difficult to grow in the lab? Can we only grow it in cultured human cells?
• Describe the symptoms caused by your pathogen.
• How does your pathogen circumvent the host defences present in your part of the body
• How does the pathogen cause damage to the host? What virulence factors does it produce? Toxins? Enzymes? Interferes with the immune system?
• How do we diagnose infections by your pathogen? Culture? Detection of antibodies? PCR-based methods?
• How do we treat and / or prevent infections your pathogen? Don’t just say “treat with antibiotics”. Try to be more specific.
• References used to research information about pathogens that are known to affect your chosen body site.

Sources of information

You should use journals and text books to source the information that you need to prepare the poster. You may use figures from the Internet that help to illustrate any points you wish to make but you must always reference (and cite) them. You may also use official websites belonging to government or state-run institutions such as WHO, European Centres for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Public Health England (PHE), the Centres for Disease Control in the U.S. etc. Do not use material from non-official websites containing unverified information e.g. Wikipedia (anyone can edit the content of these websites!). 

Submission Details

Deadline for handing-in poster: 15:00 pm Monday 12th May 2025 
Please upload a copy of your coursework onto BMS4005 Moodle page for plagiarism checking.
Please note, Times for presentations will be emailed. 
Failure to upload, may result in an automatic fail  
All members must sign and date the sections they have contributed too, this must be uploaded with the poster
Note, only one member of the group, needs to upload the poster and the form with all signatures
For group assessments, anything submitted more than 1-hour late is not accepted for marking
This is an in-person assessment, and you must present your work in order to recieve a mark

Assessment Support

Workshops will take place where you will have the opportunity to use laptops to begin seeking information and planning your poster. Members of staff will be available to offer guidance and advice. Please attend the session assigned to you in your timetable

Level 4 Descriptor

This level descriptor describes what is required for a student to pass at the minimum threshold of this academic level.
Students will have a narrow but competent knowledge base of key course themes and will be able to communicate/present ideas accurately in a logical manner. They will be able to apply the principles of critical thinking to evaluate key course themes to formulate sound and valid conclusions. With support of module teams, students will be able to recognise the relevance, be able to search and access key texts and use this literature to communicate knowledge to their area of study.