Nutritional Sciences 113:
Food Microbiology - 2 units

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Class Time & Location:

Office Hours

Recommended Preparation:

College courses in chemistry and biology

Required Text:

ADDITIONAL REFERENCE MATERIAL:
On the InterNet. Check out both the World Wide Web (WWW) and the UseNet NewsGroups (bionet.microbiology" and "sci.bio.microbiology"). Also, the publications of the Center for Disease Control http://www.cdc.gov/publications.htm can offer much information.

NS113 On-Line:

In addition to this website we also have a mailing list. We will use the mailing list for announcements, questions, sample exam questions, and sharing ideas and discoveries. Therefore it is important for you to have your own EMAIL ACCOUNT, and to SUBSCRIBE to the mailing list.

To subscribe to the mailing list send your request to ns113-request@nature.berkeley.edu. Your message should read as follows:

This should be the only word in your message. DO NOT put a space before the word "subscribe". Your E-mail address will automatically be extracted and added to the list.

If you have a comment, exam style question, or other question for the whole class, send it to: ns113@nature.berkeley.edu Everyone on the mailing list will automatically receive a copy of your mailing list letter. You can also use the E-mail Archive to review past messages. You can communicate directly with Prof. Chang by sending E-mail to: changlab@nature.berkeley.edu.

Non-Nutrition majors may choose to take the course P/NP.

OVERVIEW: NS113 is based on two premises: one about microorganisms and one about CAL students.

• Premise 1: Given a suitable environment and sufficient time, some microorganisms do interesting and significant things to foods and those who consume foods.

  We will spend the entire semester examining this premise, scrutinizing examples, and asking exactly how we "know" what we think we know. We will use specific examples from Food Microbiology to study the practice, application, and occasional misuse of science,

• Premise 2: UC Berkeley has some of the hardest-working, most highly motivated students on earth. NS113 is a small, intensely interactive course for students who want to take a really active role in their own academic training. The course runs on student initiative and energy. NS113 students thrive on challenges like The NS113 Lottery and The Oral Reports.

EXAMS: One of the best ways to prepare for exams is to make up lists of questions which you think may appear on an exam. We will call on you by name to share your questions in class (See the NS 113 Lottery*). Several of your questions will show up on each exam.

Exams in NS 113 will all be OPEN BOOK. You may use whatever books and notes you'd like. However, your exam must be your own work. You may not discuss the exam or share your books and notes with other students during the exams. And you may not use your InterNet link during exams.

A word of CAUTION. You should prepare for your exams as if they were closed book. Looking things up will consume a great deal of time, and our experience has been that any student who looks up too many things will end up with a low-scoring exam.

STUDENT REPORTS: These give NS 113 a very good change of pace. Each student will give a brief oral report on an original peer-reviewed research paper in food microbiology or technology. You'll find guidelines for student reports follow in the next section.

Guidelines for Student Reports
1. Depending on the size of the class and the amount of time available, you will either work as individuals or in small teams. We will discuss this in class.

2. Your report should be based on an original research publication in the recent peer-reviewed literature. If you have questions about what original research is, ask the instructor.

3. Over the years students have found the following journals to be especially good sources of peer-reviewed papers to report on: Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Infection and Immunity, International J. Food Microbiology, J. Applied Microbiology, J. Dairy Science, J. Food Protection, and J. Food Science.

4. Practice your report so that you'll be able to deliver it and still have at least 5 minutes for discussion time. Otherwise the instructor will have to stop your talk to leave discussion time.

5. In your report you should tell why the authors of the paper did their experiments, what they did, how they did it, what they found, and how they interpreted it.

6. Prepare a handout with complete reference to the paper you are reporting on. The reference should include authors' full names and affiliation, title of paper; journal name, volume and year; and first and last page numbers of the paper. Undergrads often disregard these, but in NS 113, youÕll see why they are important. In fact, you may have the opportunity to discuss the importance in an exam!

7. Your handout should include any tables, figures, or data you want your classmates to see. Do not depend on writing data on the blackboard. There will not be enough time or space to do so.

8. We will be happy to make copies of your handout at departmental expense provided that you get your original copy to us at least a day in advance.

9. Do not worry about handing in a formal report or term paper. The oral report and your handout take the place of a term paper.

PROBLEM SETS: Be sure to do them. Even though you won't hand them in, they are still very good practice. And, you will see similar problems on exams.

NS 113 LOTTERY: Be sure to look at your reading assignment BEFORE lecture. Even a 20- or 30-second glance will help.

Then prepare a STUDY QUESTION or a TOPIC FOR CLARIFICATION on a card or slip of paper.

Each lecture I will call on students at random and ask them to read their questions aloud and then to hand them in. Many of these questions will reappear on exams.

Review Questions

Over the course of the term review questions and other information will be placed at this link.