Ground breaking Grewall

Hello, dear reader. Hope you are persevering!
I have an undergraduate honors degree in microbiology and today I’d like to share my experience.

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I enjoyed studying microbiology.
I do not know if it was because it was surprising to learn that only 5% of all bacterial species are pathogenic or infectious agents while the rest can be useful in industry or bioremediation or that there are 100 million times as many bacteria in the oceans (13 × 10²⁸) as there are stars in the known universe [1] or that micro-organisms in the gut outnumber human cells by 10 to 1 [2] but I was hooked.
University of Delhi had excellent (although small) lab facilities, enough for each student to be able to perform Gram staining, biochemical tests, antibiotic susceptibility tests and culture most organisms in a BSL-1 facility. We were taught how to measure our own media preparations, autoclave them and pour enough plates as a pre-experimental set-up. This was beside the immunology practicals with ELISA or immunoblotting assays, antibody testing, biochemistry practicals where we’d be crying over spectrophotometer readings or molecular biology practicals while running agarose or polyacrylamide gels or preparing PCR reactions. I loved pre-pandemic days because even though the class would be collectively tired from sitting from 9AM till 6PM (if the experiments ran long), we could all perform our own experiments.

I will always be thankful to my college for the preparation and interest in research it integrated in me.

One particular experiment I enjoyed was from the subject of Food & Dairy Microbiology. This was in my second year. While the first year taught me the basics of microbiology and the procedure to determine bacterial/ fungal species from water, soil or air samples, second year allowed me to inculcate those teachings into food and industry. By the end of the first year, I had a good hand at staining techniques, setting up my microscope and streaking or spreading techniques for culturing.
The experiment was to allow growth of bacteria and fungus on one flour-based food and one fruit item for two weeks. Then, using an inoculation loop, each student would pick different colonies and grow them in nutrient agar (for bacteria at 37°C) or potato dextrose agar (for fungus at 25°C). Then perform Gram-staining (for bacteria) or lactophenol cotton blue staining (for fungus) on each colony before sub-culturing them in selective media.
For example, in case of bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria (Salmonella spp., Enterobacter spp., E. coli) are selected in MacConkey’s Agar while Gram positive bacteria are selected in Mannitol Salt Agar (Staphylococcus species). Of course, before and after sub-culturing and incubation, I’d stain and visualize them under the microscope. One did have some idea as to what it might be but selection is important in the process to confirm.

In two weeks, most fungal species growing in the decaying food had started sprouting which was good for experimental results. It was easy to spot Penicillium spp., Aspegillus spp. or Rhizopus spp. under the microscope by the shape of their fruiting bodies.
I was also lucky not to find any pathogenic bacterial species in my food (poori and pomegranate).
Nonetheless, the following are the benefits of studying microbiology-

1. To work as a microbiologist in pathology labs, handling clinical samples.
2. Industrial microbiologist- procurement and quality testing of samples or creating or following standardized procedures. These industries include all major dairy industries (milk products like cheese, yoghurt) and food industries.
3. R&D for industries/companies using single-celled organisms for creating food products or pharmaceutical products (recombinant hormones and proteins)
4. Quality Control Officer in food and dairy industries
5. Clinical research- diagnostics and therapeutics against infectious agents.
6. Environmental research- use of microbes for bio-remediation of land, water or air.

Microbiology is the study of all micro-organisms, including not only bacteria and archae but also fungus, cyanobacteria and viruses (prions, virions, viroids). It has a multitude of practical uses.
While this list includes the most immediately-related options, one can opt for a different niche. I decided to pursue molecular biology and human genetics for my graduate program because I became interested after being introduced to both subjects during my undergraduate studies. Virology is another field that is not clearly understood in India yet. It needs to be explored extensively. Neither do we know much about deep sea bacteria or archaebacteria.

Apart from science, many individuals opt for a business degree or law. Personally, I believe law is a good option. It is time-consuming (soul-consuming) and difficult, but it the need of the hour. If we have individuals who can understand biology alongside law, it will be extremely helpful for patents and IP rights.

Hope this helped.
Have a wonderful day ahead!

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REFERENCES:

1. Zobell, C. E., & Rittenberg, S. C. (2011). Microbiology by numbers. Nat. Rev. Microbiol, 9(628), 10-1038. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2644
2. Human Microbiome Project – Home. (2020, August 20). NIH Common Fund. Accessed 2023, May 12. http://commonfund.nih.gov/hmp