Why Study Microbiology?

1
Why Study Microbiology?

• Ubiquity
• Roles in disease
• Presence everywhere

• Biological roles
• Food chain
• Environmental element recycling
• Animal digestion
• Cellulase
• Food Microbiology
• Fermented foods

2
Why Study Microbiology?

• Pharmaceuticals
• Vaccines/Antibiotics
• Biotechnology
• Bioremediation
• Pathogenicity
• Fundamental Biology

3
Microbes in Research

• Simple structure
• Large populations
• Rapid growth rates

4
Microbe Types

• Algae
• Eukaryotes
• Metabolic grouping
• Fungi
• Eukaryotes
• Cell numbers
• Metabolism
• Cell wall

• Bacteria
• Cell arrangements
• Cell shapes
• Prokaryotes

5
Microbe Types

• Viruses
• Acellular
• Obligate intracellular
• 2 components

• Protozoa
• Eukaryotes
• Cell numbers
• Metabolism

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Microbe Types

• Animals
• Eukaryotic
• Helminths
• Eggs
• Arthropods
• Vectors

7
Roles of Microbiologists

• Biological Research
• Pharmaceutical/Vaccines
• Agricultural

8
Microbiology Settings

• Universities
• Commercial labs
• Med/Veterinary
• Environmental
• Food

9
Microbiology Settings

• Legal
• Food safety
• Water testing
• Clinical
• Public Health

10
Microbiology History

• Plagues in History
• Bubonic
• Leprosy
• Great pox

11
Microbiology History

• Early Studies
• Hooke
• Van Leeuwenhoek
• Linnaeus

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Germ Theory vs. Spontaneous Generation

• Pasteur
• Swan-necked flask

• Redi
• Spallanzani

13
Understanding Disease

• Koch
• Anthrax (postulates)
• Culture techniques
• Lister/Semmelweiss

14
Special Fields of Study

• Immunology
• Virology

• Chemotherapy
• Antibiotics
• Synthetics

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Special fields of Study

• Genetics/Molecular Biology
• Recombinant DNA technology
• Genomics
• Proteomics