Incorporating a human parasite virtual reality experience into a tertiary microbiology teaching curriculum increases student engagement and learning outcomes.

Manon Reist, Liana Theodoridis, Katelyn Mroczek, Gene Drendel, Carolyn Bell, Rick Skarbez, Teresa G Carvalho

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Journal of microbiology & biology education, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Manon Reist *Department of Microbiology, Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology, School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.

Liana Theodoridis *Department of Microbiology, Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology, School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.

Katelyn MroczekDepartment of Microbiology, Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology, School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.

Gene DrendelDepartment of Microbiology, Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology, School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.

Carolyn BellDepartment of Microbiology, Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology, School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.

Rick SkarbezDepartment of Computer Science and Information Technology, School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.

Teresa G CarvalhoDepartment of Microbiology, Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology, School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-4947-371X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Microbiology, the study of microorganisms, is of critical importance to a variety of fields, including medicine, nursing, genetics, and immunology, as well as to students training to enter those fields. By definition, the objects of microbiology are too small to be seen with the naked eye, so its practitioners are well accustomed to using technology to make the invisible visible. From this perspective, virtual reality (VR) is a natural evolution from the microscope and the petri dish. We have conceptualized, designed, and tested a new virtual reality environment to teach undergraduate students how to diagnose a range of human parasitic diseases. Here we present our VR module as well as the qualitative and quantitative student feedback received from our second-year microbiology student cohort (

Indexed as

educationmalariaparasitologyvirtual reality

Identifiers

PMID41358746

DOI10.1128/jmbe.00165-25

PMCPMC13131000

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.