Genomics of Environmental : Engaging Students in the Microbiology and Bioinformatics of Foodborne Pathogens.

We have developed and implemented an undergraduate microbiology course in which students isolate, characterize, and perform whole genome assembly and analysis of from stream sediments and poultry litter. In the development of the course and over three semesters, successive teams of undergraduate students collected field samples and performed enrichment and isolation techniques specific for the detection of . Eighty-eight strains were confirmed using standard microbiological methods and PCR of the gene.