Microbiology

overview: In this assignment, you will role-play as a newly created microbe in a world filled with immune defenses, antibiotics, and other microbes competing for survival. Using your microbiology knowledge, you will design a pathogen, narrate its abilities, and determine outcomes using proposed dice rolls. This activity blends storytelling, problem-solving, and microbiological concepts in a game-inspired format. Instructions: Create Your Microbe and then Name it Choose whether your microbe is a bacterium, virus, fungus, or parasite. Assign a scientific name. Design its features using microbiology concepts: Cell wall structure (Gram-positive, Gram-negative, acid-fast, none) Virulence factors (capsule, pili, toxins, antigenic variation, etc.) Mode of transmission (airborne, vector-borne, fecal-oral, direct contact) Growth environment (aerobic/anaerobic, temperature range, host specificity) Narrate Strengths & Weaknesses Describe what makes your microbe powerful (e.g., toxin production, immune evasion). Identify weaknesses (e.g., vulnerable to heat, disinfectants, specific antibiotics, UV exposure). Write this in a story-like narrative as if you are describing a character in a role-playing game. Dice-Based Action Scenarios Propose using a six-sided die (d6) to determine your microbes success or failure in different encounters. Suggest roll results and example scenarios based on strengths/weaknesses you described: Immune Response Encounter: Roll a die. (12): (34): (56): Antibiotic Treatment Encounter: Roll a die. (13): (45): (6): Competition with Other Microbes: Roll a die to see if you outcompete the normal flora. You must narrate the outcomes in a short story style, using the above examples for combining dice results with microbiology knowledge. Upload to Submit: A Microbe Profile Sheet that combines parts 1 and 2 from above, written in a short-story format. A Narrative Adventure Log proposing outcomes from three encounters (immune system, treatment, competition). A Reflection Paragraph on what you learned about microbial structure, virulence, and treatments through this role-play. You will then compare your fictional microbe to an actual pathogen we may have studied in class. This strengthens your connections between fantasy and real-world microbiology.