Human pathogens: infectious diseases
Pathogens are microbes that harm their host and cause the particular symptoms we recognise as an infectious disease. Pathogens come from four of the five groups of microbes: viruses, bacteria, …
Course: Small and Mighty: Introduction to Microbiology
Home practical: yeast fermentation
In this Step, you’re going to try to blow up a balloon by harnessing the power of yeast, using everyday items you can buy in a supermarket. This home practical …
Meet Matthew Shepherd – a microbiology graduate
In this video you’ll meet Matthew, who studied microbiology at the University of Reading. Matthew explains how his experiences of a microbiology work placement and studying microbial ecology on a …
Meet Professor Glenn Gibson
In the previous Step, you quantified the number of aerobic bacteria in a sample of food to determine if it was safe to eat. In this Step, I meet with …
Meet Dr Louise Johnson
You may be surprised to hear that many scientific discoveries have been made by chance. Our chance discovery was that we accidentally left experimental samples out for longer than needed …
How to analyse a DNA sequence
In Step 2.5, you watched Harriet demonstrate how to isolate bacteria from a sample, make a pure bacterial culture and perform a Gram stain. When we were watching Harriet demonstrate …
How to isolate viruses in a lab
Viruses are acellular microbes. If you want to culture them in the lab you need to provide them with host cells in which to replicate. Viruses are usually only able …
Further learning
Are you considering applying to study Microbiology at University? We’d like to invite you to follow your passion for the hidden world on the BSc in Microbiology at the University …
How to isolate bacteria in a lab
As you saw in Week 1, there are many species of microbe and they differ in how they gain energy and building blocks (nutritional requirements) and what environmental conditions they …
How to study microbes that cause deadly diseases
You’ll undoubtedly have followed the horrific news stories about the West African Ebola virus epidemic as it progressed during 2014 to 2016. It was the largest outbreak of Ebola virus …
An invitation to extend your learning
Congratulations on completing Week 1! Are you considering applying to study Microbiology at University? We’d like to invite you to follow your passion for the hidden world on the BSc …
Microbes living on the edge
The extremophiles, or “lovers” (from the Greek –philos) of extremes, are microbes that form communities in seemingly inhospitable environments such as: acidic hot springs, alkali peat bogs, salt lakes, deep …
The spectrum of microbe-host interactions
Many microbes have adapted to live in association with another organism, which we refer to as their host. Every animal and plant is colonised by a huge number of different …
Meet Professor Rob Jackson
In this second of our ‘Meet the expert videos’, I am joined by Professor Rob Jackson on the University of Reading campus. Rob and I discuss a bacteria that causes …
How do microbes survive?
Microbes may be invisible to the unaided eye, but they form an integral part of every ecosystem on Earth: grasslands, forests, tundra, deserts, marine and freshwater habitats. In Step 1.11, …