Fakhrul Rodhi's

Greetings! So for this week we learned on the external structures of prokaryotes. Basically there are several parts of external structures in prokaryotes which are : 1. Glycocalyx - h ighly-hydrated fibrous meshwork of carbohydrates that projects out and covers the membrane of endothelial cells to  mediatescell attachment, retains humidity during exposure to dry environments, protects against molecular and cellular antibacterial agents (antibiotics, surfactants, bacteriophages, phagocytes) and other vital functions 2. Flagella -    long, hairlike organelles that extend from the cell, permitting it to move. In prokaryotic cells, such as bacteria, the flagella rotate like the propeller of a motorboat 3. Axial filaments -  a filament that wraps around the cell and makes the cell move in a cork screw movement. It  composed of endoflagella that spiral around the cells instead of towards the surrounding meduim 4. Cell wall -  Bacteria are di...

Hello awesome people! This week we played with colours during our experiment. I love it so much! Firstly, we learned on how to prepare smear of various cultures on the glass slides. Then, we did the steps for Simple staining and Negative staining.  Simple staining is a very simple staining procedure involving only one stain used to determine cell shape, size, and arrangement. Basic stains, such as methylene blue, carbol fuschin, or crystal violet are useful for staining most bacteria.  The negative stain is particularly useful for determining cell size and arrangement. It can also be used to stain cells that are too delicate to be heat-fixed. Nigrosin is used in this technique is an acidic stain.   Since the surface of most bacterial cells is negatively charged, the cell surface repels the stain. The glass of the slide will stain, but the bacterial cells will not. The bacteria will show up as clear spots against a dark background. Here is the observation ...

This week we were given a group task to choose a prokaryote and to make a presentation about the prokaryote. We had chose Serratia marcescens which is  a motile,short rod-shaped, Gram-negative, facultative anaerobe bacterium, classified as an opportunistic pathogen. It was discovered in 1819 by Bartolomeo Bizio in Padua, Italy. Bizio named the genus Serratia in honor of and Italian physicist named Serratia, and chose marcescens for the species name after the Latin word for decay.   S. marcescens was first thought to be harmless (non-pathogenic). Due to its ability to produce red pigmentation, it was first used in 1906 as a marker in order to trace bacterial activity or transmission. It was not until later in the 1950’s that the US government experimented with the S. marcescens and the harmful effects that the bacteria causes were revealed. A study using S. marcescens was carried out to determine the possibility of biological weapons being transmitted by wind current. ...

11th October 2017 For Experiment 6, we learned on how to measure microorganism under the microscope. Basically we used an ocular micrometer, a lens with scale from 0 to 100 and stage micrometer, a slide with scale of 0.01 micrometer. The ocular micrometer was put inside one of the ocular lenses before observing. Ii get me took quite some times before I figured out on how to measure the microbes. We measured Staphylococcus aureus , Bacillus cereus and Serratia marcescens. Here are some pictures of the microbes under the oil immersion lens. This is Serratia marcescens under oil immersion lens This is  Staphylococcus aureus  under oil immersion lens

Assalam and hi :) This week, Dr Wan taught us a little bit about Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Transmitting Electron Microscope (TEM). Those microscope are something that were really expensive and only professionals can handle them. She promised us on wanting to take us on a field trip to see the SEM here in the UPM. I am so excited for the trip! We also made some discussion about Taxonomy, Classification, Nomenclature and Methods of Classification. We really moved a lot in the class. Next, we are also given a task to find one microorganism that we like for us to adopt it. We need to learn about the microbe, know its origin, how to isolate it and how to culture it. Basically, we need to know everything about the microbe that we chose or we adopt. I chose Paenibacillus vortex, a species of pattern-forming bacteria. From its name, you can know that it can form vortex or swirl structure that makes me want to know more about it. Here a some pictures of Paenibacillus vortex ...

Hello :) This week, we learned on how to use the light microscope. We learned on how to control the light source, the resolution, using what magnification and also on how to care for the microscope. The demos really helped us a lot on how to use this and that. Thank you dear demos! We also learned on how to prepare slides for the microorganisms with two techniques which are Hanging-Drop method and Wet Mount method. It is not that hard hard to prepare the slides but it is quite tricky when it comes to the part where we have to minimize air bubbles under the slides when placing the coverslip.  Here are some pictures I manage to take for this week activities.  Staphylococcus aureus under the microscope Bacillus cereus under the microscope Red Blood Cell under the microscope