Final Year Project

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Final Year Project Seminar Presentation

• Azizan Mohd. Noor
• UniKL MICET

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Why do I need to do well in Presentations?

• Phase 1 35
• Phase 2 30
• Approx. 32.5 of 6 credits equivalent to 1.95
  credits of the total marks in the assessment of
  the project (6 credits) comes from Presentations.
• Presentation is only for 30 min each
• For a normal course 1.95 credits would be
  equivalent to approximately 18 h of lectures or
  336 h of lab. time in 14 weeks!
• WORTH YOUR WHILE TO DO WELL!

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Prerequisites for a good seminar presentation

• Good research
• Good understanding of your research
• Well prepared materials

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Preparation of seminar materials

• Suitable for the time allocated ie. 20 min
  presentation and 10 min QA
• Suitable medium for presentation Powerpoint
  being the usual choice
• Precise and concise

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Content of a seminar presentation

• Introduction
• Objective(s)
• Materials and methods
• Results and discussion
• Conclusion

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Introduction

• A brief description of the background of the
  research
• Current status of knowledge in the area of
  research
• Importance of the research

Intro1
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Poly(3-hydroxyalkanoate) PHA
An intracellular storage material
accumulated by a wide
variety of microorganisms

O
C
C
(CH2)n
100-30 000
O
R
Intro2
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PHA can be divided into

• Short-chain-length PHA (scl-PHA)
• eg 3-hydroxypropionate, 3-hydroxybutyrate,
• 4-hydroxybutyrate,
  3-hydroxyvalerate
• Medium-chain-length (mcl-PHA)
• eg 3-hydroxyhexanoate, 3-hydrooctanoate,
• 3-hydroxydecanoate

Intro3
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The type of PHAs produced depends on

• Bacteria strains
• Carbon sources
• Culture conditions

Intro4
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Some uses of PHAs

• Degradable packaging for consumer products
• eg. bottles, bags, films
• Drug-release matrix devices
• Starting material for the synthesis of
  enantiomeric pure chemicals
• Paint industry as a binder

Intro5
11

• To screen for local PHA producers
• To optimize the culture conditions
• To manipulate the molecular
• weight of the polymer(s)

Objectives
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Materials and methods

• Main methods used
• Concise use diagrams or flow-charts if possible

Materials n methods 1
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Procedure
Soil samples (1 g) obtained from various
locations were suspended in 10 ml of sterile
distilled water. The suspensions were then plated
out on nutrient agar and incubated at room
temperature. Colonies producing biopolymer were
identified by the flourescent orange colour
formed upon flooding with Nile Blue A. To assess
the efficacy of PHA production by the various
isolates, the colonies were grown in
semi-synthetic liquid medium with glucose as the
C-source. The cultures were incubated aerobically
for 7 days after which the PHA produced were
determined using a gas-liquid chromatograph.
Materials n methods 2
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Procedure
Soil samples (1 g) obtained from various
locations were suspended in 10 ml of sterile
distilled water. The suspensions were then plated
out on nutrient agar and incubated at room
temperature. Colonies producing biopolymer were
identified by the flourescent orange colour
formed upon flooding with Nile Blue A. To assess
the efficacy of PHA production by the various
isolates, the colonies were grown in
semi-synthetic liquid medium with glucose as the
C-source. The cultures were incubated aerobically
for 7 days after which the PHA produced were
determined using a gas-liquid chromatograph.
Materials n methods 3
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Materials n methods 4
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Results

• Very improtant
• Concise
• Arranged according to the objectives of the
  seminar
• Table, graph or photo?

Results 1
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Effect of C/N molar ratio on production of
polymer from oleic acid by USM4-55
Results 2
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Effect of C/N molar ratio on production of
polymer from oleic acid by USM4-55
Results 3
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Polymer molecular weight profile
Results 4
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Optimisation of glucoamylase production by
Aspergillus niger
Results 5
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• Microorganism
• Pseudomonas sp. USM4-55
• was locally isolated from the
• soil. It was identified by using
• API20E.
• Ability to produce biopolymer
• detected using Nile-Blue-A
• staining method and gas
• chromatographic analysis.

Results 6
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P(3HB)
mcl-P(3HA)
Results 7
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Conclusion

• GC is still the better method for screening of
  new PHA producers
• USM4-55 produces both scl- and mcl-PHA
• USM4-55 can use both glucose and oleic acid to
  produce PHA
• Polymer accumulation is highly stimulated by
  nitrogen and oxygen limitation
• Polymer molecular weight can be manipulated by
  adding certain chemical compounds

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Effective seminar presentation

• Have a good understanding of the research carried
  out
• Confidence and poise
• Good English
• Address the audience
• Adhere to the time allocated
• Practise!!