Microbiology Essay – Chlamydia trachomatis

Description

The focus of the presentation should be on microbiology. Apply the concepts and vocabulary you learn in class to your specific microbe. The majority of the essay should focus on how the microbe lives, how it infects the host, and how it is able to cause disease

– which necessarily means that you must explain, in detail, your pathogen’s specific molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity! How is the microorganism transmitted to the host? What is the preferred portal of entry? How does the pathogen set up the initial infection? What conditions are required for growth of the microbe? How does the disease progress? How does the pathogen penetrate or evade the host defenses, and how does it damage host cells? What symptoms and signs are usually present in the host? What treatments are effective against the microbe (if you list a drug as a potential treatment, describe its molecular mechanism of action, if known)? How might the disease be prevented? Don’t try to make your essay simply a list of answers to each of the above questions (which are by no means intended to be a definitive list of questions needed to be answered.) Instead, try to develop a fluid story about the microbe and its characteristics emphasizing the molecular mechanisms that are involved as much as possible. Specific Essay Guidelines

 You must submit your essay as a word document or pdf and save your essay as firstname_lastname.doc or .pdf

 Your essay must be 1500 – 2500 words, double-spaced, size 11 or 12, and in a readable font (Times New Roman, Calibri, or Cambria). Your ‘Works Cited’ page does NOT count toward your word requirement.

 In-text citation and a ‘Works Cited’ page are required with a minimum of 7 reliable resources. APA and Chicago Manual are appropriate. If you are unsure on citations, please check out Purdue OWL. Wikipedia is not a reliable source but can be a great place to begin your research – scroll down to bottom of Wikipedia page to find list of sources used.

 Please do NOT make bulleted lists of symptoms or any other characteristics of your pathogen. This essay should be written in paragraph form with complete sentences.

 You must provide a minimum of 4 figures (drawings, diagrams, cycles, tables, etc.) with at least one figure pertaining to the mechanism of pathogenicity. No more than 8 figures please. Figures can be interjected within writing when discussed or placed at the end of the word document. Use in-text references when discussing the figure. For example, you could write: Figure 1 shows the life cycle of Plasmodium falciparum within a human and mosquito host and I will now discuss this cycle in detail OR The life cycle of Plasmodium falciparum is quite unique with alternating hosts of the mosquito and human (see Figure 1). All figures/images must be described in detail and should never replace your own discussion of the information displayed. Instead, the figure should emphasize and reinforce your discussion with a helpful visual for the reader.

 As mentioned above, your essay needs to discuss the mechanism of pathogenicity in detail but you want to create a story with your pathogen and provide other details to make the essay fluid and dynamic for your audience. Here are other topics you may address in your essay but you are NOT

REQUIRED to discuss all of the topics below, they are merely guidelines to help you write a successful essay:

1. History

2. Modern discovery

3. Description

4. Pathogenesis

– REQUIRED5. Virulence factors –

REQUIRED 6. Diagnosis

7. Treatment 8. Epidemiology

9. Prevention

10. Fun facts Examples of Reliable Resources for Presentation

1) Journal of Medical Microbiology

2) Center for Disease Research and Policy

3) Todar’s Online textbook of Bacteriology

4) Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

5) Journals.asm.org

6) Jmm.sgmjournals.org

7) Wikipedia references

8) http://virology-online.com/

9) http://www.virology.net/

10) http://www.microbiologybook.org/

11) Virulence Factors of Bacterial and Viral Pathogens

12) Anti-Immunology: Evasion of the Host Immune System by Bacterial and Viral Pathogens

13) Casadevall, A., and L. Pirof. “Virulence factors and their mechanisms of action: the view from a damage–response framework.” Journal of Water and Health 07.SI (2009): 2-17. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.581.8902&rep=rep1&type=pdf

14) Smith, H. “Mechanisms of Virus Pathogenicity.” Bacteriological Review 36, no. 3 (1972): 291-310.

15) Bacterial Pathogenesis – Medical Microbiology – NCBI Bookshelf 16) If you prefer learning through audio… “This Podcast will Kill You” is a great podcast. You can also find their podcasts on their website: www.thispodcastwillkillyou.com. They also list all their