BIOL 2301 Lecture Notes - Zinc Oxide, Urinary Tract Infection, Sunscreen
Document Summary
The objective of this exercise was to design and carry out an experiment to test how an outside variable affects the capability of uv mutagenesis to prevent the growth of serratia marcescens (begley 2007). Serratia marcescens is a bacillus shaped bacteria discovered by bartolomeo bizio in 1819. In the 1960"s s. marcescens was believed to be non-pathogenic and was used in school experiments to track infections. The microbial transmission of s. marcescens was then easily tracked due to its blood- red color (begley 2007). Also, in the 1950"s s. marcescens was used by the u. s. army in operation sea- spray in order to test how wind currents would affect the spread of biological weapons. To test this, balloons were filled with s. marcescens and burst over san francisco, however not long after; doctors noticed an increase in pneumonia and urinary tract infection in the area. S. marcescens has since been classified as an opportunistic human pathogen.
