Plant Biotechnology/Food-borne Pathogens (U01536)

? Credit Points : 10 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : BIO-4-BTpbfm

The domestication of plants has been the basis for civilization and the traditional techniques of agriculture and plant breeding have been used to provide food and raw material for fibre and fuel. Technological advances over the last 25 years have dramatically expanded our ability to exploit plants. It is now possible to generate transgenic crop plants, which have the potential to provide more, better quality food in a sustainable way. Plants are now also used for the production of complex natural compounds and the production of high-value pharmaceutical proteins. However, GM plants are controversial. In this elective, we will cover the fundamentals of plant biotechnology, introduce current applications in case studies and outline future applications. Food microbiology has become much more prominent in recent years due to a number of factors. These include the emergence of food-borne pathogens like Escherichia coli 0157, public concern over the safety of food and the rising incidence of food poisoning cases. Food microbiologists are involved in many areas of the food industry: quality control of food production, rapid detection of food poisoning bacteria, food preservation and risk assessment etc. There is also a need for research scientists to improve our knowledge of the physiology, genetics and genomics of food poisoning organisms and the epidemiology of food-borne disease. Development of new technologies requires scientific understanding at a fundamental level. This elective focuses on the genomics and physiology of selected food poisoning bacteria chosen from Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella typhimurium, Vibrio spp. Clostridium spp. and Bacillus cereus. In addition rapid detection methods for bacteria and stress responses of microbes (e.g. starvation and acid shock) are also covered.

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : Permission of the Curriculum Approval Officer.

? Costs : Notepads

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Biotechnology, (School of Biological Sciences, Schedule K)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 4th year

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 5 hour(s) 30 minutes per week for 5 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
11/01/2007	09:00	11:00	Room 7.14, Swann Building	KB

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Thursday	09:00	09:50	KB
Lecture	Thursday	11:10	12:00	KB
Lecture	Friday	09:00	09:50	KB
Lecture	Friday	11:10	12:00	KB

? Additional Class Information : Food Pathogens component starts on thursday 12th January at 9 a.m. in Swann 7.14.
Plant Biotechnology component starts on friday 13th January at 9 a.m. in Swann 7.14.