Summary:
This project allows you to put together everything that you have learned during the course of the semester. Here we combine the earlier projects that asked you to design a species of microbe and an antibiotic to fight a fictional species of microbe. In this project you will design a type of microbe other than microbe (Virus, Fungi, Helminth, or Protist) AND the antimicrobial treatment that would best be used to fight off an infection of your microbe. Both the microbe and the treatment for the microbe should be FICTIONAL.
Instructions:
Review the course material and make sure that you are comfortable with the “goals” of a microbe (eating, reproducing, surviving, moving on to a new host), and the structures/ adaptations that might aid in those goals.
Design a species of microbe that would be able to successfully eat, reproduce, and avoid a healthy immune system.
You must record each of the following about your microbe:
Type (Virus, Fungi, Helminth, or Protist)
Structure or appearance (the information you will need to include here will vary based on the type of microbe you select)
Is it Motile? If so, how does it move (flagella, pseudopods, hyphae growth, etc.)? If not, how does it reach its food source?
Energy sourceà what does your microbe “eat”?
Be as specific as possible about this.
At least 2 biological adaptations that will help the microbe survive for longer in the host. (For example, your microbe might release a toxin that kills immune cells or your microbe might form a biofilm)
How does your microbe reproduce?
Based on the design of your microbe, how is your microbe transmitted from one host to another? Explain why you think this method of transmission is the most likely.
Include a brief (a few sentences) discussion about WHY you made each of the choices you did while creating your new species of microbe. How did your choices make the microbe more successful?
Form a hypothesis about how infection with your species of microbe might impact a human host.
Important things to consider when doing this:
Where will the microbe live in the host?
How will the presence of a large number of new microbe in that organ impact the host health?
How will the microbe travel from host to host?
How virulent is your microbe going to be? How will your adaptations impact this?
Draw an image of your microbe under the microscope. This does not need to be a work of art, but I want you to do your best to represent what your microbe might look like. Make sure to label the important structures on your drawing.
Give your microbe a name (include genus and species – Ex. Rebeccus rivardius). This name can be as creative or scientific as you want as long as it includes a genus and species. The only restriction is that it cannot be the name of a microbe that already exists.
Design an antimicrobial that would be able to successfully kill the fictional microbe species you were assigned.
You must record each of the following about your antimicrobial:
What characteristic microbe structures or proteins your antimicrobial will target.
Is the target on the microbe itself or a toxin the microbe produces?
Will your antimicrobial kill the microbe or simply prevent replication?
Include a brief (a few sentences) discussion about WHY you made each of the choices you did while creating your drug. How did your choices enable the antimicrobial to specifically target the species of microbe that you were assigned?
Form a hypothesis about how the drug you design might impact a human host.
Important things to consider when doing this:
Will your antimicrobial interact with eukaryotic as well as prokaryotic cells?
Is your antimicrobial likely to be broad spectrum or narrow spectrum?
How will your antimicrobial likely impact the microbiome of the host?
