Part 1: Set a timer for 3 minutes, and make a list of as many human non-infectious diseases that you can think of that are influenced by microorganisms.

Part 2: Refer back to your Writing Exercise #1 that you completed the first week of class. Reflect and discuss how your responses have changed from week 1 to week 10, and what the most important topics you will take away with you once you have completed the course.

1:

• cancer
• diabetes
• anxiety
• obesity
• asthma
• allergic diseases
• immunodefieciency disease

2:

Compared to my week one work, I believe that I have now a deeper understanding as to what exactly is a non-infectious disease and how microbes are a big influence on the onset of non-infectious diseases. Looking back at the first week, I think that I heavily relied on others’ information rather than my own knowledge. Now after taking this class, I have more knowledge about various topics concerning health and non-infectious diseases.

The main takeaway that I will take with me after finishing this course is that microbes, if manipulated, can affect and bring up various diseases in the human body. I found it quite fascinating how there is a brain-gut axis that affects neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s. Just the knowledge that I gained from knowing that microbes are much more than just simple organisms in our body has been amazing. For example, reading about how the manipulation of microbes in germ-free and non-germ-free mice leads to the increase of diseases in the subject has made me realize that the microbiome in our bodies is a widely unexplored and interesting area of study.