π― Therapeutics
TARGETS
| 26. Humans utilize and harness microorganisms and their products. | τ° List four ways you have used a microbial product this week. τ° List four microbial products that are used in agriculture (medicine or industry). |
τ° Explain the importance of microbial fermentation products to food/beverage production (e.g., bread, cheese, yogurt, wine, beer, etc.). τ° Provide examples of how microbes can be used to solve energy problems. τ° Describe how humans utilize and harness microbes and their products for medicinal purposes. τ° Conduct research to find the top four microbial processes that gross the most revenue on an annual basis. τ° Discuss the benefits of two specific tools of modern biotechnology that are derived from naturally occurring microbes (e.g. cloning vectors, restriction enzymes, Taq polymerase, etc.) |
| 27. Because the true diversity of microbial life is largely unknown, its effects and potential benefits have not been fully explored. | τ° Explain the great plate anomaly/viable but non-cultivatable state. τ° Give an example of a process/product that was recently attributed to being carried out by microbes. |
τ° Discuss the beneficial impact of microbes to at least two different environments. τ° Predict how the removal of microbes can negatively affect a given system. τ° Explain how an uncultured organismβs evolutionary relationship to other organisms on a 16S rRNA phylogenetic tree may be established. τ° Describe how you would go about prospecting for antibiotics in a new environment. |
| 3. Human impact on the environment influences the evolution of microorganisms (e.g., emerging diseases and the selection of antibiotic resistance). | τ° Define the term nosocomial infection. τ° Define the term emergent disease. τ° Distinguish between the terms endemic, epidemic, and pandemic. |
τ° Describe two human practices (in medicine and agriculture) that have led to the increase of antibiotic resistance (e.g., antibiotics and sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics in feed, stopping antibiotic therapy too soon, repeated use of the same antibiotic). τ° Describe two human practices that have led to the development of dead zones in bays or oceans. τ° Give an example of a disease that has emerged due to human activities, and state what those human activities were (e.g., AIDS, Ebola virus, bird flu, Lyme disease, etc.). τ° Explain how public health policies (e.g., quarantine and vaccination) can alter epidemic/pandemic progression. τ° Explain how not completing a full treatment of antibiotics can lead to an increase in resistance in a bacterial population. |