ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL INFORMATION!

You need to bring the following material to the second lab (Jan 21-23):

• ≥500 ml of pond water - the scummier the better
• ≥500 ml sediment - the blacker and nastier, the better
• A pinch of rich soil - not potting soil
• A pinch of rotten fruit - grape, citrus or other acidic fruit would be best
• If you can get it, get some sand, mud, or sediment from a marine or brackish environment, or a saltwater aquarium

There are 8 lab "experiments" in this course. Follow the links below to detailed descriptions & protocols for each:

• Microscopy
• Unknown Organism isolations for the Term Project
• Bacillus isolation
• Winogradsky Column
• Purple non-sulfur Bacteria isolation
• Polysaccharide degrader isolation
• Yeast/fungi isolation
• Plate count anomaly experiment

After the first week of lab, students will schedule their work independently based on their progress with each experiment. Some experiments may be finished very quickly. Some may progress v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. Others may fail outright & need to be restarted. As a result, there isn't really a lab schedule, just a list of open lab times.

All labs are held in 1522 Gardner Addition from 1:30 - 4:20, on Wednesdays (section 201), Thursdays (section 202) or Fridays (section 203).

The Lab Manual is nothing more than a printout of all of the pages in this section of the MB 451 web site. For your convenience, I've created a single document containing all of these pages, in PDF format, so you can easily download & print it out.

You need to bring your copy of the Lab Manual with you to lab each week.

• The Lab Manual (2.7Mbyte PDF)

Laboratory rules and precautions will be reviewed in the first lab period, each student will sign off on a copy of the Lab Safety Review Sheet, and these practices will be enforced throughout the semester.

• Lab Safety Review Sheet

Each of the 6 laboratory writeups are worth 20 points. The lowest of these 6 write-up scores will be dropped. The point value of the lab writeups is therefore 100 points.

Lab writeups are due 1 week after completing (or abandoning) each experiment, but will be accepted without point penalty until April 17th. There is no writeup required for the "unknown" or the Microscopy lab.

• Details about the lab writeups

All students in this course are required to register for and participate in the lab, including those registered in the on-line lecture section.

Attendance every week is strongly encouraged (at least until you're finished with all of your experiments), but attendance will not be recorded or used in determining grades. Keep in mind, however, that your cultures won't stop & wait for some future day, and if you miss very many lab days you may not finish your experiments by the end of the semester. In special circumstances, it may be possible to participate in another lab section if missing the regular lab day is not possible, and if it is arranged in advance.

Students who are absent without a formal excuse are still subject to assignment deadlines and late fines. Students who are absent with a formal excuse will be given one extra week to turn in their assignments, or as negotiated with the instructor.

University attendance policy (http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/pols_regs/REG205.00.4.php)

This is perhaps not of much interest to most students, but here is a sheet describing media prep, including recipes and schedule, lab supplies and ordering info.

• Media prep & Supplies