• Antibiotic resistance gene transfer in Caulobacter sp.
• Nitrogen fixation studies
• Environmental isolation of Protozoa (a great project for High Schools thanks to the voluntary work of Maree Wright!)
• Build a microscope - see a whole new world!
• Add a camera to the eye piece to capture photos from your microscope here
• Look at these amazing electron microscope photos - the UGLIEST creature on the website is here
• Oil pollution remediation (bioremediation)
• Non-terrestrial life studies
• Novel antibiotic producers
• Secondary school experiments and amateur equipment (more being added...)
• Phylogenetics and taxonomy - visit the National Center for Biotechnology Information

 

School students as young scientists:

The New Zealand Microbiological Society (NZMS) has assisted with NRG students attending conferences in 1999 and 2001. Members of the NZMS have also encouraged our students to take part in new projects and have offered advice and guidance.

	Year 9 (Form Three) & Year 12 (Form Six) students present a research poster at the 2001 NZMS conference in Wellington.
	At the same conference, a presentation on the teaching of Microbiology in Secondary schools in New Zealand from a students perspective.

 

School microscopes and the Electron microscope - what's the diff?

Light: The light microscope can only magnify images to about 1000 times, though specimens can be prepared relatively easily and the microscope set up quickly and operated with little training.

Kelly Stewart uses a light microscope to study Caulobacter in North Island water supplies. The Isolation and Characterisation of New Zealand Caulobacter Species. M. FENTON, C.D. FENTON* AND K. STEWART. (presented at the 1999 New Zealand Microbiological Society conference at Otago University, November 23rd - 26th).

Electrons (electricity): The electron microscope is able to magnify up to 1,000,000 times. However, it requires skilled operators and carefully prepared samples to produce good images. The microscope is fixed in one place, takes up a lot of space, and uses a lot more electricity. It must fire a beam of electrons in a vacuum, so requires a pump unit to evacuate air. More complicated components also means more things to breakdown and be repaired. Usually we find such devices only at medical or research facilities.

Thanks to Doug Hopcroft and Raymond Bennett for their time when showing us around the the Keith Williamson Electron Microscope unit at Hort+Research, Palmerston North.

Hort+Research, a Crown Research Institute, has been kind enough to provide some examples of what can be seen using the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microsope (TEM).

The SEM allows surface details to be seen, such as the Argentine Stem Weevil. TEM is used to look at features inside cells, such as the fungal hyphae penetrating the plant cells. Often a very thin section has been cut through a sample first.

You may like to check out Microscopy New Zealand for more information.