Keywords: MRSA research project, undergraduate teaching assistant, ISU laboratory

During my first semester at Iowa State, I devised my first research plan under Dr. Crystal Brillhart to assess the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) among a microbiology laboratory class of 24 students. As the project lead, I set up testing methods to collect, then anonymously process nasal swabs of each consenting participant. Following several literature reviews and method comparisons, I guided my team of four in using various biochemical tests that suggest strain specificity and would make up for the lack of the expensive, yet definitive, media specialized for MRSA identification. Ultimately, we found a similar-to-expected prevalence of MRSA in a random population to our tested students, of approximately 13% suspected carriers.

In my second semester, Spring of 2019, I applied to become an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA) for Dr. Brillhart’s lab course on the Biology of Microorganisms, MICRO 302. In a similar setting to my MRSA project, I taught 24 microbiology students various lab techniques throughout 15 weeks’ worth of laboratory practices. We started off with proper microscope and pipette use through slide preparation and staining methods, followed by bacterial enumeration. These approaches helped students understand basic morphology and how to begin quantifying bacterial samples by a dilution series or using spectrophotometry. 

The foundation established by these practices allowed us to continue on by examining various environmental effects on growth, including oxygen availability, temperature limits, and pH and osmotic pressure influences. Further studies explored methods of controlling organismal growth via antibiotics (Kirby-Bauer) and UV light. Among my favorite was testing locally derived water samples for coliforms which show up as metallic colonies on Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) agar. Finally, I guided the students through the uses of biotechnology to perform genetic modification and amplify samples with PCR. 

Each week, I would set up experiments, answer questions that arose, and grade pre-lab quizzes on weekly content. At the end of the semester, I assisted students in developing mini research projects to confront common microbiological questions in a Myth-Busters Presentation series. This joyful experience showed me the vastness of peoples base knowledge on topics I was familiar with, how to teach a large group of students, and trained me in ways to appropriately oversee a handful of research projects being conducted by small groups.