This goal talks about analyzing and apply the major principles of cell and molecular biology. I would say that my second favorite class I have taken at Longwood University BIOL 304 which was Microbiology. I say this because after taking BIOL 250 helped me decide that I will go a more Micro/ molecular route instead of an environment/ evolution route. One skill that I learned that I will always enjoy doing is plating on agar media. I remember we did a project where we swabbed the bathrooms of Longwood’s sinks and compared them with Hampden Sydney’s sinks. After we finished swabbing we plated them on media so that the bacteria can grow on it. This means that the Bacteria’s cells are going through cell replication that they could grow on the media. This really helped me a lot because now as a Senior I am able to take those skills that I learned about the major principles of cell and molecular biology and apply them to what i know now in BIOL 404, which is Immunology. Taking what I learned about bacteria and viruses in BIOL 304 and applying it to BIOL 404 made my life so much easier. In BIOL 404 we had to do a project where we were giving a patient with really bad symptoms and we had to identify what was wrong with them. Taking BIOL 304 gave me a deep understanding of bacteria and viruses so in Immunology I considered them as pathogens and it helped me so much with the project and in the class in general. I really am thankful for BIOL 251 because it laid the foundation for me and it was the reason that I decided to take almost every micro/ molecular class offered at Longwood (excluding genetics sadly). Something that I would have done differently is done more planting and taken more samples because it was really interesting seeing bacteria growth. With this new found skill that I had I believe that I could work at a microbiology lab plating cells on media and selecting colonies. I have actually done this on the research that I am doing now with Dr. Shanle and I will say that Microbiology is the reason why I am able to perform really well in her lab.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1vl3f_I6RFCwT2B110yjIFTlmgZSmzuY3OScQL-7V8MA/edit#slide=id.p