Handbook

Microscopic life pervades every aspect of our lives, influencing our health, diet, and environment. In this course, students will gain an appreciation of the diverse roles that microbes play in our everyday lives. The course starts with a general introduction to Microbiology that will discuss cell structure, function, physiology, and diversity. The course then focuses on introducing students to specific areas of microbiology: Environmental Microbiology, Food Microbiology, Medical Microbiology, Microbes in Biotechnology, Virology, and Eukaryotic Microbiology. 

The lecture program is complemented by tutorials and laboratory practicals where students learn to cultivate, identify, and utilize microbes. During this course you will isolate and characterise a microbe from a sample of your choice. Students will use both traditional approaches and DNA sequencing technologies to identify the microorganisms in your sample. 

By the end of the course students will have a broad appreciation of how the unseen microbes all around us influence us every day.