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Welcome to the Microbiology Graduate Program!
 These are exciting as well as challenging times in
microbiology. Despite our
wealth of knowledge,
much remains
to
be learned about the amazing versatility of the microbes.
New problems facing us
today are peculiar to our
millennium, and demand a new understanding of the potential
of these vital organisms.
Microbes live virtually everywhere life is possible, even
where life is unimaginable. They generate about half the
oxygen in the atmosphere, are the foundation of the food
web, and probably constitute the largest component of the
earth's biomass. The whole ecosystem depends on their
activities, and they influence human society in countless
ways.
We are
faced today with depletion of natural resources,
environmental degradation, emergence of new pathogens,
resistance to existing antimicrobial agents and biowarfare.
The availability of whole genome DNA sequence information
has generated a revolution in the biological sciences.
Microbial genome information is not only poised to change
our views of evolutionary history and its mechanisms, it is
also revealing new areas for drug design, mechanisms for
degradation of pollutants, and on the flip side, blueprints
for the development of new microbial pathogens.
Understanding the microbes and harnessing their power is
perhaps our best chance to protect our biosphere and enhance
our quality of life. A central component of this effort will
have to be the training of scientists in the field of
microbiology and microbial pathogenesis. The Microbiology
Graduate Program allows students to specialize in various
areas including bacteriology, virology, fungal biology,
microbial genetics and evolution, microbial pathogenesis, as
well as cell biology and immunology.
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