I really liked microbiology. I found that it was easy to understand and that it was one of those courses where almost everything made sense and just clicked. The lab portion of this course was definitely one of my favorites so far, I enjoyed looking at bacteria and learning how to identify bacterium. It was really satisfying to work on projects where we had to incorporate all the different skills from the semester and to see that we could determine a singular bacterium from a an unknown solution. I think this is one of the first times I actually felt like a scientist, from the lab coats, to the aseptic techniques, to the independency, I really enjoyed every aspect of this class. This course also confirmed that I really want to work in a lab after college and that I want to work with bacteria. Hopefully I can use the skills I gained from this course to do just that.
During the semester, we were expected to complete a group lab project that was researched, designed and completed on our own with only some guidance from the professor. My group decided to explore how different compositions of tampons impacted the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, which is the bacterium that is largely responsible for Toxic Shock Syndrome. While it was more for qualitative data than statistically significant quantitive data, it was still fun to design and have it come to life. Below is my final research paper on the topic.
Growth of Staphylococcus aureus When Using Tampons of Different Compositions (Fall 2022)