Course Syllabus

Course Description

This course will introduce students to the microbial species that cause human disease. We will cover bacteria, fungi, viruses, and protozoa, and discuss current topics including antibiotic resistance, public health threats, and global health. There is no laboratory component to this course. The course meets 5:30 - 7:30 pm on Thursdays (Science Center Lecture Hall D).

For graduate credit, students will meet an additional hour per week for journal club. Students will read and lead discussions on scientific articles on microbiology topics. The graduate seminar will meet immediately following the lecture (7:40 – 8:40 pm on Thursdays; Science Center room 112).

Prerequisites

No strict prerequisites. However, a basic understanding of molecular and cellular biology will be helpful.

Course Goals

Upon completion of this course students will be able to describe: the biological differences between bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa; how the biology of these organisms leads to human disease; and how humans try to prevent or treat these diseases. Students will be able to explain the tests used by microbiologists to identify and characterize organisms. Students in the graduate section will be able to analyze a scientific article and present a critique to their peers.

Schedule

Week 1 – Introduction to medical microbiology

What is medical microbiology? (Certain)

What are bacteria and how do we identify them? (Shapiro)

Week 2 – The battle between host and pathogen

The human immune system, Part I: Innate (Certain)

Gram positive bacteria: Staphylococci and Streptococci (Certain)

Week 3 – Gram negative bacteria

Enteric: E. coli, Salmonella, Shigella (Shapiro)

Non-enteric: Pseudomonas (Shapiro)

Week 4 – Protect yourself!

Spirochetes: Lyme and Syphilis (Certain)

STDs (Certain)

Week 5 – Mycobacteria

Tuberculosis (Shapiro)

Non-TB Mycobacteria: leprosy, M. avium (Shapiro)

Week 6 – EXAM - March 3 at 5:30 in Science Center Hall D

Week 7 – Resistance is futile

Fighting back: antibiotics and resistance (Shapiro)

Introduction to eukaryotic pathogens (Shapiro)

** SPRING BREAK IS MARCH 14-18 SO NO CLASS ON MARCH 17 - HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY **

Week 8 – Fungi

Candida (Shapiro)

Other fungi (Shapiro)

Week 9 – Tropical infections

Malaria and babesia (Certain)

Trypanosomes (Bhargava)

Week 10 – EXAM - April 7 at 5:30 in Science Center Hall D

Week 11 – Introduction to viruses

The human immune system, Part II: Adaptive (Bhargava)

Viruses 101 (Bhargava)

Week 12 – Common viruses

Cold and flu season (Certain)

Varicella (Bhargava)

Week 13 – The virus that changed the world

HIV (Certain)

Zika (Bhargava)

Week 14 – Beyond infections

Human papilloma virus and cervical cancer (Bhargava)

The microbiome: the millions of microbes that live in and on us (Shapiro)

Week 15 – Final Exam - May 12 at 5:30 in Science Center Hall D

Instructors

Laura Certain, MD, PhD (lcertain@mgh.harvard.edu); Prerna Bhargava, PhD (bhargava@broadinstitute.org); Rebecca Shapiro, PhD (rshapiro@broadinstitute.org)

TAs:

Lenette Lu, MD, PhD - graduate section leader; llu0@mgh.harvard.edu

Tim Mercier - undergraduate TA for last names A-K; timmedicalmicro@gmail.com                          Office hours: Wednesdays 6:30-7:30PM in Boylston Hall 103. 

Carolyn Treasure - undergraduate TA for last names L-Z; carolyn_treasure@hms.harvard.edu        Office hours: Thursdays 4:30-5:30PM in Sever Hall 107.

Reading Materials

No textbook is required for the course. The textbook listed below is an option if you would like a resource for further reading or for reference. However, the exam questions will be based on the material presented in lecture or covered in take-home assignments. NOTE: The electronic version of this book is available through the Harvard Library.

Suggested reading:

Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Pfaller MA

Medical Microbiology, 8th Edition

Elsevier (2016)

Grading

Undergraduate Credit: Grades will be based on weekly short assignments (10%), two in-class mid-term exams in weeks 6 and 10 (30% each), and an in-class final exam in week 15 (30%).

Graduate credit: Grades will be based on weekly short assignments (10%), two in-class mid-term exams in weeks 6 and 10 (20% each), an in-class final exam in week 15 (20%), presentation of one or more articles during the graduate session (10%), a written commentary on the article (10%), and participation in discussions during the graduate section (10%). If you are taking the course for graduate credit, it is important that you attend the graduate section every week.

Course Policies

We expect students to come on time and prepared to learn. Please do not use your personal electronic devices during class unless you are using them to take lecture notes.

For take-home assignments you may work together and consult expert sources. However, we expect the wording of the answers to reflect your own reasoning and understanding. You may be called upon in class to explain your answers. Exams are closed-book and will be proctored.

Take-home assignments must be submitted by 6pm on the day they are due. It is your responsibility to ensure that your assignments have been received, either digitally or in hard copy, before the due date. If you believe that you are having technical problems submitting your assignments online through Canvas or via email, you must bring a hard copy of your assignment to class. Late assignments will not be graded, and will receive a grade of zero.

Attendance is not mandatory. However, we reserve the right to have in-class assignments and you will not get credit for an in-class assignment or exam if you are absent on the day it is given. 

The Extension School is committed to providing an accessible academic community. The Accessibility Office offers a variety of accommodations and services to students with documented disabilities. Please visit www.extension.harvard.edu/resources-policies/resources/disability-services-accessibility Links to an external site. for more information.

Plagiarism and Cheating

Any written work that you submit for a grade must be your own. You may not copy or use information from textbooks, journals, or other sources without proper citations. You should review the Extension School’s guidelines about academic integrity, which can be found at:

http://www.extension.harvard.edu/exams-grades-policies/student-responsibilities

Anyone caught plagiarizing or cheating on written assignments or exams may be subject to a grade penalty and/or sent before the Administration Board for additional sanctions.

You are responsible for understanding Harvard Extension School policies on academic integrity (www.extension.harvard.edu/resources-policies/student-conduct/academic-integrity Links to an external site.) and how to use sources responsibly. Not knowing the rules, misunderstanding the rules, running out of time, submitting the wrong draft, or being overwhelmed with multiple demands are not acceptable excuses. There are no excuses for failure to uphold academic integrity. To support your learning about academic citation rules, please visit the Harvard Extension School Tips to Avoid Plagiarism (www.extension.harvard.edu/resources-policies/resources/tips-avoid-plagiarism Links to an external site.), where you'll find links to the Harvard Guide to Using Sources and two free online 15-minute tutorials to test your knowledge of academic citation policy. The tutorials are anonymous open-learning tools.