What is microbiology used for?
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms – little, really little, critters .Microbiology is actually made up of several sub-disciplines which individually may stand alone, because there is so much to learn in each. These disciplines include: Immunology (the study of the immune system and how it works to protect us from harmful organisms and harmful substances produced by them – is what I, Marci, and Larry work on; Virology, the study of viruses, and how they function inside cells – Marci does some of this, too; Pathogenic Microbiology, the study of disease-causing critters and the disease process – is what Eric does; Microbial Genetics, the study of gene function, expression, and regulation – is what Susan and Del do – although Del mostly examines mutations in genes and substances which appear to prevent mutations; Physiology, the study of biochemical mechanisms – is what Jim and Clarence do. I’ll focus on bacteria right now, not because this group of critters is necessarily more in
