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BIOL 348LLaboratory Methods in Microbiology

Units
0.50
Faculty
Science
Subject
Biology

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 2 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

Selected experiments to provide students with a range of laboratory skills in microbiology.

Prerequisites

  • Complete all of the following
    • Must have completed the following:
      • BIOL241 - Introduction to Applied Microbiology (0.50)
    • Complete 1 of the following
      • Must have completed the following:
        • BIOL240 - Fundamentals of Microbiology (0.50)
        • BIOL240L - Microbiology Laboratory (0.25)
      • Must have completed the following:
        • BIOL140
        • BIOL140L

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

No course lists it as a requisite.

Reviewed on UW Flow

100% liked it75% easy100% useful

From 7 ratings and 3 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • Only take this course if you can devote the time to it. Six hours every week in lab plus the flowcharts and updating the lab book. Very time consuming but really interesting and my favorite course this semester.

    Mar 2014 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • This course is really helpful if you want to become more confident in a microbiology lab. It was run by Cheryl Duxbury and Kesen Ma but you spend most of your time with the TAs who were amazing and really made the course! It is a big time commitment with nearly 6 hours of lab + 50 minutes of tutorial per week. Outside of this you need to make flow charts and make sure your lab book is kept up to date. The tutorials were boring and not very helpful but you get marks for attendance. The class is really small with less than 20 students so you can get a lot out of it. We had to write 2 lab reports and had a lab final that was not too difficult (but its written by Dr. Duxbury...). Overall I…

    May 2024 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Super interesting and fun lab course. 6hrs of weekly lab time (split into 4 and 2 hr sessions) + 1 hour tutorials (tutorials are mostly useless). First 2ish weeks are refreshers of basic techniques. The rest of the term, you isolate bacterium from a mixed sample, run phenotypic assays (lots of metabolism/biochem testing), isolate and purify the rRNA gene, sequence it and bioinformatic analysis
    2 lab reports and a lab exam. The first report covers the refreshers, bacterium isolation and phenotypic assays. The second report covers the rRNA gene isolation and bioinformatic analysis. Lots of experiments to talk about in each report, so make sure you give yourself enough time.
    The actual…

    May 2023 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

9 posts and comments in 8 threads mention BIOL 348L, September 2011 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Fall 2022

Biol 348L - How is Kesen Ma? 0 points, 1 comment

u/TurboTwinky28: “I really like learning about lab stuff and was recommended by my advisor that I should try Biol 348L. I'm looking at the reviews and everybody is saying that Proff Ma is hard to understand and doesn't really answer your questions. …”

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Fall 2017

BIOL 335L and BIOL 348L 1 point, 2 comments

u/TheBestOfTheGreats: “Hey guys and gals, just wondering whether anyone here has taken either 335L or 348L? I want to take one of them, but they both sound interesting. Anyone that's taken either of the courses do you have any positive or negative experiences?”

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BIOL 335L and BIOL 348L 4 points, 10 comments

u/thrwmeintothetrsh: “Has anyone ever taken these at the same time? How did it go?”

u/Reikki: “335L - It's good if you don't have co-op because you get to run your own gels and blots, extract DNA, etc; a lot of general but essential molecular bio skills. …”

u/thrwmeintothetrsh: “Yeah I heard it's good if you don't have coop, I mainly want to know how itll be with BIOL 348L at the same time since they're both long labs. What if you're doing a 499 on genotyping? The 6 hour lab doesn't seem appealing especially since I know it's typically held on Friday.”

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Spring 2017

Winter 2017

BIOL 499 Experience 1 point, 8 comments

“How was your experience? Who was your supervisor? Do you think it's too late to look for a supervisor? I'm considering David Rose and Josh Neudfeld or Moira Glerum.”

u/Reikki: “Did you contact the prof for permission and hand in your application form yet? The application was due in March so if you submit it late, most of the profs may have already selected a …”

u/thrwmeintothetrsh: “Thanks! Out of curiosity have you taken BIOL 335L or 348L? I've heard that they're good alternatives if a 499 doesn't work.”

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Fall 2012

What courses are you taking next semester? 10 points, 107 comments

“Now that exams are finally over, we can starting thinking about the Winter 2013 semester. What courses will you be taking? Any that you're anticipating and/or dreading?”

u/ThePlasmid: “BIOL 348L: Lab Methods in Microbiology BIOL 331/L: Advanced Animal Cell Biology BIOL 120/L: Intro to Plant Structure & Function BIOL 474: Bioprocessing BIOL 475: Topics in Applied Microbiology Both the 400 levels are night classes, something I've never had and am not looking …”

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Fall 2011

Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar