UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL SCIENCES
SCHOOL OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
MBB 315: Laboratory Procedures in Microbiology Semester:1, 2025/2026 2 Credits
Class Hours: Tuesday 8.30 – 11.30am Venue: Lab
Friday 2.30 – 4.30pm Venue: SW3
Lecturers:
1. Name: Dr (Mrs.) Cynthia A. Adinortey Office: Room B 2-18, 2nd Floor,
Telephone: 024 472 8606 School of Biological Sciences
E-mail: cadinortey@[Link]
2. Name: Dr. Sheila M. A. Tagoe Office: 3rd Floor, School of Biological
Telephone: 020 8100849 Sciences
E-mail: stagoe@[Link]
Office: 3rd Floor, School of Biological
3. Name: Dr Daniel S. Agyirifo
Sciences
Telephone: 0204374451
E-mail: dagyirifo@[Link]
Prerequisite Course(s): BIO 101, BIO 102, BIO 202, BIO 209A, BIO 210
Required Text(s):
1. Alexander, S.K., Strete, D. and Niles, M.J. (2004). Laboratory Exercises in Organismal and Molecular
Microbiology. McGraw-Hill, Inc, New York, USA. USA.
2. Atlas M.R., 1995. Principles of Microbiology. Von Hoffmann Press, Inc.,
3. Benson, H.J. (2007). Microbiological Applications- Laboratory Manual in General Microbiology. (10th
Edition). WCB/McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, USA. USA.
4. Brown A.E. (2007). Benson’s Microbiological Applications. Laboratory Manual in General Microbiology.
(10th Edition). McGraw-Hill, Inc, New York, USA.
5. Carpenter, P.L. (1977). Microbiology (4TH Edition), W.B. Saunders Company, London. Page 512.
6. Mackane, L. and Kandel, J. 1996. Microbiology: Essentials and Application. (2nd edition). McGraw-Hill,
Inc., USA.
7. Nester, E.W., Anderson, D.G., Roberts, C.E. Jr., Pearsall, N.N., Nester, M.T. and Hurley, D. (2004).
Microbiology: A Human Perspective (4th Edition) McGraw-Hill Higher Education, London. Page 817.
8. Talaro, Kathleen and Talaro Arthur (1996). Foundations in Microbiology: Basic Principles Wm. C Brown
Publisher, London, Page 542.
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Course Description
This laboratory course illustrates basic microbiological techniques. Students will learn about the standard
operations and safety measures in the microbiology laboratory. They will be introduced to microscopy, sterilization
techniques, media preparation, isolation and culturing of microorganisms. Identification of microorganisms using
selected methods such as morphology, microscopy, Gram stain and other identification tests will be undertaken.
Students will learn how to prepare serial dilutions and perform microbial cell enumeration using plate counts and
optical density measurements from spectrophotometer.
Course Objectives
This course is designed to help students
• acquire basic microbiology laboratory skills
• understand the scientific principles behind the code of practice in a microbiology laboratory
• appreciate and understand the importance of aseptic techniques
Student Learning outcomes:
At the end of the course, students will be able to:
• know, understand and adhere to safety laboratory practices.
• know the various types of microscopes and their characteristics
• be conversant with the use of the microscope.
• isolate, culture and identify microorganisms.
• determine the microbial load of various samples.
• articulate scientific information through written communication
Course Content
1. Overview of the course
2. Standard operations and safety measures in the laboratory
3. Sterilization techniques
4. Media preparation
5. Serial dilutions and Microbial cell enumeration
6. Isolation and culturing of microorganisms
7. Microscopy
8. Identification of microorganisms
Teaching and Learning Strategies
• Lectures
• Discussions
• Demonstrations / Illustrations
• Practical exercises/ Practical laboratory sessions
• Assignments
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Assessment
A combination of formative and summative assessment including, quiz, practical laboratory reports,
assignment and examination will be used.
Continuous assessment:
Assignment/Quizzes Teaching Week (WK) Staff Marker
Quiz
………… Lecturer 1
Practical Laboratory Issued: WK 6
Report 1 Lecturer 2
Due: WK 8
Practical Laboratory Issued: WK 9 Lecturer 3
Report 2
Due: WK 11
Assessment weighting
End-of-semester Examinations 60%
Quiz 10%
Practical Laboratory Report 1 15%
Practical Laboratory Report 2 15%
Grading
A=80-100%; B+=75-79%; B =70-74%, C+ = 65-69%, C= 60-64%, D+ = 55-59%; D = 50-54%, E = < 50
(Fail)
Course Policy
Attendance: 100% attendance is required. Students are expected to attend all classes. Paying attention in
lecture, actively participating in the practical laboratory sessions and taking note will enhance students
understanding of materials covered during lecture. To ensure the attendance policy is firmly adhered to, each
student is required to sign an attendance sheet at the beginning of each lecture. By the University regulations,
students who expect to miss a class, should submit a permission letter to the lecturer in charge and indicate
the date and reason for the absence.
Code of conduct: Students are expected to be punctual at all sessions and conduct themselves in class. All
phones and laptops must be switched off during lecture to create a conducive teaching and learning
atmosphere, and to minimize unnecessary distraction. The use earphones is not allowed during the lecture
period.
Cheating/Plagiarism: Cheating and plagiarism of any kind will not be tolerated and will attract the
appropriate sanctions as stipulated in the students’ handbook.
Assignment/ Report submission: All work should be submitted by the deadline.
Referencing: Use APA referencing style in your essays/project write-up.
All other rules and regulations of the University apply!
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Schedule
Week Content Objectives Activities
Students will be able to:
PART I (Lecturer 1)
1&2 • Overview of the course - outline the objectives of the course and the content areas Self-
to be covered introduction/
• Standard operations and safety - outline the course expectations and policies.
measures in the laboratory - define the term “Standard Operating Procedures” Discussion/
- state at least five laboratory safety rules Lecture/
- explain the terms “Laboratory biosafety” and biosafety Illustrations/
levels” Demonstrations
- distinguish between the four biosafety levels
3 • Sterilization techniques - explain key terms such as sanitization, sterilization,
disinfection, aseptic techniques
- distinguish between the physical, chemical and Lecture/
mechanical methods of control of microbial growth Discussion/
- give at least three examples of each of the microbial Illustrations/
control methods Demonstrations
- know the purpose of key instruments including
inoculation loops and needles, autoclave, spirit lamp and
laminar air flow hood
PART II (Lecturer 2)
4-6 • Media preparation - distinguish between the various types of microbiological Lecture/
growth media Discussion/
• Serial dilutions and Microbial - prepare simple growth media such as nutrient agar and Practical
cell enumeration potato dextrose agar
laboratory
- describe how tenfold serial dilutions are prepared
- estimation the bacterial and fungal load of samples sessions
including contaminated water samples
7 - explain key microbiology procedures including Lecture/
• Isolation and culturing of inoculation, isolation, incubation, identification and Discussion/
microorganisms inspection Practical
- know the growth requirement of some key bacteria and laboratory
fungi
sessions
- isolate bacteria and fungi from samples
- culture bacteria and fungi on specific microbiological
media
- prepare and submit a laboratory report
PART III (Lecturer 3)
8 - 10 • Microscopy - know the various types of microscopes Lecture/
- distinguish between magnification and scale Discussion/
- be conversant with the use of the microscope Practical
- identify bacteria using biochemical tests, Gram-staining
• Identification of laboratory
microorganisms and microscopy sessions
- identify fungi using colony morphology, biochemical tests
and microscopy
- prepare and submit a laboratory report
11 REVISION
12 & 13 END OF SEMESTER EXAMS
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