A Virtual Lab of Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization MALDI-TOF Protocols for Microbiology Students

This study is a practical way of teaching software engineering and microbiology in a virtual setting, which is beneficial during natural calamities, including the recent pandemic. This project details how the software engineering students developed a virtual lab for the microbiology students that started as a class project. The benefit of creating the project for the software engineering students was that it helped to develop their soft skills and the details of collecting requirements. Similarly, it allowed the microbiology students to collaborate with software engineering students to educate them on the protocol and eventually practice the MALDI-TOF experiment before they do it in their labs. Input from microbiology students seems crucial in ensuring that the virtual lab accurately reflects the real-world lab environment and meets the needs of those conducting experiments. This study explains how students learned to communicate in developing real-world software as a class project. The study exemplifies how technology can bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical skills.