Introduction to Microbiology

A. Why does it matter?

• Microbes in Health & Disease: Case study #1
• pathogens and disease transmission

B. What did our ancestors know? In what way can we relate to this today?

1. All all microbes good? Bad?
2. What role do microbes play in our world?
3. Hippocrates, Thucydides and Varro
4. About Linnaeus, Pasteur, Koch, Woese: why does it matter?
   • Naming microbes: Genus-species (binomial) system
   • Same species/different strain

C. What are microbes? Where do we find them?

1. Where we find microbes: hands-on activity
2. Types of Microbes
   • Prokaryotes
     • Bacteria
     • Archaea
   • Eukaryotes
     • Algae
     • Protozoa
     • Fungi
     • Parasites
   • Non-living (acellular)  microbes
     • Viruses
     • Prions

D. Methods that Microbiologists use

1. Microscopy: size of microbes
2. Culturing: growing bacteria
3. Aseptic technique & sterilization

E. Microbiology in the modern era

1. Dr. Harold Amos first African-American department chair at Harvard; broad line of work on virology, bacterial metabolism and nutrition
2. Dr. Carl Woese (U. Illinois) worked with 16S rRNA and proposed division of all life into 3 domains, including the Archaea
3. Drs. Barry Marchall and Robin Warren (Australia): Nobel prize winners for discovery of bacterial cause of stomach ulcers
4. Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Stewart: Mexican-American scientist whose early ideas and research demonstrated link between viruses and cancer
5. Dr. Fan Qingsheng: A microbe-centric view of agricultural microbes and their roles in the broad systems agriculture framework in China
   •         https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13238-017-0374-x/figures/2

SUNY Plattsburgh | Department of Biological Sciences | Medical Technology | Cytotechnology | My Research Interests 

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