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I would like to know about studying Microbiology and what are the career options after that. Please advise.
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms (also known as microbes) too small to be seen by the naked eye and would include organisms such as algae, fungi, bacteria and protists. The study tries to understand how these microbes live, grow and interact with the environment.
It is an interdisciplinary field embracing other life sciences such as genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology and even engineering.
Sub disciplines of microbiology include food microbiology which studies reasons behind food spoilage and other microbes used to cure food such as cheese; industrial biology which involves the study of industrial fermentation and waste water treatment; clinical biology and microbial genetics. It also encompasses immunology – the fight by the human body against infectious diseases.
The study of microbes also involves finding plant-based alternatives to meat. Companies like Nestle and McDonald are investing millions of dollars for research in this field.
Microbiology majors take courses like microbial physiology, virology, chemistry, biochemistry, and physics. There is fair amount of clinical and laboratory experience included in the course curriculum. At school students would need to study Physics, Chemistry and Biology. After a BSc in Microbiology you can also pursue an MSc in bioinformatics, microbiology or human genetics.
Both at undergraduate and postgraduate level it may be also worth evaluating a degree in biotechnology which is a blend of technology with biological systems. This comes under the Engineering department while Microbiology will be under the life sciences department.
Other than jobs in the laboratory and research, career prospects for a Microbiologist are available in pharmaceutical, health, food, wellness, agriculture, dairy, environment industries, forensic science and nanotechnology.
A course in microbiology can be pursued at Duke, University of Washington, UCL, Wisconsin Madison. Michigan State and Arizona State University. In UK you could study it at Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, Liverpool, Hull, Leicester, Queen Mary, Manchester Metropolitan and Kings College.