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: food microbiology, medical microbiology, virology, and eukaryotic microbiology. There is additional focus on the pathological processes and pharmaceutical treatment of microbial infections in humans. 

The lecture program is complemented by synchronous and and asynchronous tutorials and laboratory practicals where students learn about sterilisation and aseptic techniques, as well as methods to cultivate, identify, and utilise microbes. During this course students will isolate and characterise a selected microbe, using both traditional approaches and DNA sequencing technologies to identify the microorganisms in the sample.  

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