<aside> 👋 Instructor: Professor Maggie Sogin
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 10:30-11:30 & 3:00-4:00 PM, BSP 101
Website: https://www.soginlab.com/teaching-2/bio119
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<aside> 📌 TA: Perla Gonzalez Moreno
TA Email: [email protected]
TA Office Hours & Make Up Lab Time: Weds 4-6 PM, location - BSP 406 unless otherwise announced
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Lecture: Wednesdays, 9:30 - 10:20 AM
Location: GRAN 120 ****
Lab: Wednesdays & Fridays, 12:00 - 2:50
Lab Location: SRE 155
Prerequisite(s): Bio 002/Bio012
Course Materials: Working laptop computer, lab notebook, PPE
Progress towards your degree? This course fulfills upper division lab requirements and will help you identify future research opportunities at and beyond UC Merced.
Welcome to BIO 119: Animal Microbiome Research Lab! It is my intent that all students at UC Merced - despite where you come from or how you got here - feel welcomed in my classroom and that your learning needs are met throughout the semester. I firmly believe that our largest resource in learning stems from the diversity of our student population. Thus, it is my intent that the delivery of materials are respectful of race, ethnicity, gender, disability, age, socioeconomic status, and culture. Because this is a new course on campus, your input matters. Please feel free to provide suggestions on how to improve the course for you personally or for the class as a whole.
I, along with a small team of your peers, designed and piloted this course with the intention of inclusivity. The course is designed to be delivered using student centered methods that are proven to help all students, including you, learn. I have also developed this Notion page that contains all information you need for the course and we have an organized CatCourses page to help facilitate grading and the turning in of assignments. If at any time you struggle to use these resources please let me know.
Finally, I recognize that the costs of materials, e.g., textbooks, can be expensive. I have deliberately chosen readings that align with course material from freely available resources.
All organisms, including us, depend on their microbiomes to maintain organismal health, performance, and fitness. Understanding and characterizing microbial species associated with each animal or plant host or the environment is important to understanding how organisms function and how they will respond to ecological and environmental stress. In this course, you will have an opportunity to participate in an authentic research experience designed to introduce you to research at a Research Intensive University.
The overarching goal of our collective research project is to characterize the metabolism of microbial species living within the sea anemone, Aiptasia. Aiptasia is an important model system that researchers use to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms underling coral bleaching and symbiosis.
As a student in Bio119, you will be introduced to discovery-based scientific research. You will be exposed to and develop foundational skills in biological sciences while learning how to investigate animal microbiomes. Finally, you are our collaborators on this project and we are excited to work with you.
<aside> 📣 Key Skills and Learning outcomes: