MICRO-BIOLOGY

bump for curiosity

>>7691295

>ask legitimate question
>nobody bats an eye
> /sci/.jpg

>>7691295
Uhg I hate wrapping my mind around the concept of very small things. It's kind of boring. But, it is ultimately a study of Biology in a small branch none the less. Just as long as you have a passion for it, Anon.

Took a course in Micro this semester, but it turned out to be micro for nurses. Shit's disappointing, literally has been "Bacteria: here are what bacteria are. Diseases X, Y, and Z are caused by bacteria. Here are some traits of these diseases, as well as one, maybe two distinguishing characteristics of these specific bacteria. Next week, viruses"

Feels like I signed up for a biology class and got a 5th grader's book of animals.

I really want to learn about the gastral micro biome, and microbiology in general,but this class is just disheartening.

>>7691433
Nanotech isn't boring at all, it's sick, it's going to be the future for sure

>>7691457
Yeah, never do the biomed side.

I majored in micro and luckily at my school, micro required a couple of crosslisted graduate courses to graduate: bacterial genetics and bacterial physiology.

These plus immunology made they entire major worth it. Learned so much cool stuff. If you want to learn it yourself the texts we used were great: Molecular Genetics of Bacteria by Snyder and the Physiology and Biochemistry of Prokaryotes by White.

Mol Gen of bacteria also goes into a lot of the mechanisms of plasmid replication and copy number maintenance, which is helpful for understanding what is now a powerful research tool and backbone of molecular cloning.

Can someone help me here?
For the last few months ive bocome somewhat of a hypochonder.
I feel sick and it is hard to describe in which way.

I sometimes get sudden headaches or unbearable pain in my eye, but there are several pains i get seemingly without a reason.
The doctor believed it'd just be standard migrane

Well now i've reasoned that this may be the cause of some small parasite that has infiltrated my body and fucks it apart slowly.

I also have chronic sinusitis

Can anyone help?

>>7692189
doctor here. you either have gonorrhea or glioblastoma multiforme. good luck.

>>7691295
Actual microbiologist here. Your post sounds dumb.
>"major"
>"tier status"
>"bonus points"

It's definitely not the highest paying of majors, with the current job market your job prospects would be better going into engineering or computer science. Hell, even nursing or some other medical field is better. Don't confuse yourself, microbiology is NOT medicine. Lots of people think they can work in a hospital or some shit as a microbiologist but that's false. If you want to do that you're better off getting an associate's in medical technology or something.
The jobs are not plentiful and they are not growing at a fast rate right now, despite all the great science that's coming out of the field. The economy just hasn't caught up with the technology yet, so there isn't a lot of opportunities in it.
>>7691458
Lots of people say this but it hasn't happened yet and still isn't quite clear that it will any time soon. You're definitely placing a gamble if you choose to pursue this career and expect immediate payoff.

>>7692189
Consult a doctor. You won't find any good answers on 4chan.

>>7692221
Not the guy you replied to, but nanotech is basically a mixture of physics, chemistry, and biology, at least at my university. Your job opportunities depend on what you choose to focus on.

>>7692173
Holy shit, Mol Gen 3rd ed is $0.01 on amazon, vs $100 for 4th ed.

I should get the 4th ed, but I'm broke as shit. Thanks for the heads up, though.

>>7691295
Most microbiology research is being done using biochemical/biophysical methods, so if you're wanting to do microbiology, you may want to have a background with one of those two incredibly similar fields. The stuff a lot of biotech companies (where you'll probably wind up) are doing now is stuff like sequencing full environmental genomes and inducing plasmids into bacteria to act as their own little biofactories. If either of those are interesting to you, then you may want to consider it more strongly, if not then maybe think long and hard.

Unless you want to work in the medical industry, in which case you may be better off doing medical lab science or biomed. Otherwise microbio works as a decent pre-med degree.

as someone who's studying molecular biology, i like microbiology and i like biochemistry

i dont care about money, but i would still like to have a job, which one should i consider? (as a masters in a few years)

>>7692285
Exactly, you can take nano without even having bio as a prerequisite I'm pretty sure, and it's is very big yet, you just don't thank it very often, every type of new glass or material that's stronger better and lighter is all cause nanotech

I'm in the same boat as OP except third year instead of fourth

I got experience in research using DNA cloning, PCR, gel electrophoresis, cell competency, media making, some bioinformatics. I got paid for this and will be in an upcoming published paper for a deletion mutation (probably right after the PI's name for contribution)

Is this something literally everyone has after they get their B.S. or can I use this shit for something?

>>7692522
all valid fields, go with one you like the most/feel you can use the most

>>7691295

>What does /sci/ think about a major in microbiology?

If that's what you enjoy, then go for it. There is a job market for it; people will pay for your skill-set.

>Any helpful tips from ACTUAL microbiologist?

I doubled in undergrad in molecular/cell bio and chem, took a few years off to work as a tech, now in grad school for biophysics. So, take this for what it's worth.

Your undergraduate research experience will be much more important to your career than your major. From what I've seen, many lab tech (in academia) or research associate (in industry) positions don't discriminate between an undergrad degree in molecular biology or biochemistry or microbiology. If you have an interest in a particular lab, email the PI and get involved in research as soon as you can. More time in the lab will give you more opportunities to take a greater role in a project.

>also where would you put it in tier status?

No one really gives a shit in the real world. But, since we're on /sci/. IMO, probably above human biology/physiology; below molecular biology/biochemistry.

>what about Bio-Physics as well ??

Biophysics is a very broad field. As it pertains to microbiology, there are numerous applications. You could do everything from the structure of bacterial or viral proteins (crystallography, NMR, EM), to modeling dynamics of bacterial populations with multi-drug interactons (statistical physics).

>>7692522

IMO, your work experience and research interests will be far more important than that decision (whether to major in biochemistry or molecular biology or microbiology). The curricula of those programs are highly similar; with the exception of a courses in physical/biophysical chem and analytical chem for the biochem degree, the technical backgrounds that those programs would offer are comparable.

>>7691458
>it's going to be the future for sure
'No'. There's a shit ton of problems with nano, at least in the pharmaceutical industry. For one half of faculty think it's bullshit. There's problems with targeted delivery, aggregation, and corona formation as well

Disease is the terrain not the bacteria, virus, fungus or cancer. somatids

>>7696403

Yea but modern science will tell you that this is Disproved.

They will tell you that Pleomorphism is false and that there is no such thing as Microzymas.

They will keep you in the Dark about Dark Field Microscopy and the nano realm of microbes.

Their Microscopes cannot see into the Nano Realm.

So they insist that it does not exist because they are too ignorant to know how to perceive it.

I'm in my last year of biomed, and I took one year out to work in a clinical microbiology lab. I'd recommend you do something like biomed rather than microbiology since it's broader and gives you more progression options than just microbiology. I'm of course biased since it's what I did.
Don't know what the fuck big science is meant to mean, but microbiology isn't exactly the highest paying biological discipline going.

>>7691295
I am currently finishing my undergrad in micro and going to graduate school for biophysics or pathology (professor does both and is letting me get into both to see what I want to do for a PhD).

Even just a four year in micro is desired, however, you will likely have to move. For most states in the US (if you are here) the median pay is about 35k but in the better states with more focus in that you will pull around 80-90k.

If you want to move on further into micro it never hurts to pickup a bioinformatics and biochemistry as this makes you versatile and able to move around any field in micro. Biophysics is pretty decent but not quite as profitable as just focusing on micro the main reason I like it is I need a bit more math/rigor in my work. A matter of comfort honestly.

My advice is this, you can either go microbiology/biochemistry and be versatile and go into any other field you want. You can go microbiology/molecular and work towards biotechnology which is also really good (however molecular classes are fucking shit boring and 99% memorization). Your first year seek a professor doing pathology of some sort with bacteria or viruses and pitch yourself as best you can to start work. The sooner you get in their lab the better. Pro-Tip: harder to get in viral pathology with a professor than it is bacterial.

Right now due to all the research involving commensal/symbiotic organisms, using microbes to produce proteins and stuff a deficient person needs, and some other stuff microbio has become a booming field with a lot to discover and create. It isn't hamster wheeling like Physics is.

Also, I would put micro near top tier sciences because the transition from microbiology to medicine is seamless. You can go from bacterial/viral/fungal/parasitic pathology to medical pathology easily.

>>7692221
K fag, explain why my dilutions didn't grow on my TSA plates. Also, we were doing a test for anaerobic growth in EYA and the growth smelled like Shit. Does this mean I have Clostridum? How to determine if its botulinum of perfringens? I literally haven't paid attention at all in the class kek

Also, what's your favorite part of microbiology? I am not too crazy about the field overall but I find the virulence mechanisms fascinating. I'm a Food sci and chem major btw