Bijou bottles are used for transporting and storing microbial cultures in the microbiology laboratory. They […]
Category: General Microbiology
WATER BATH – use, care and maintenance
WATER BATH Water bath is a piece of equipment used to maintain culture media at […]
HOT AIR OVEN – use, care and maintenance
HOT AIR OVEN Hot air oven is used for the sterilization of glassware’s (e.g. conical […]
Use & care of the Incubator
Incubator is a piece of equipment which is used in the microbiology laboratory to provide […]
Use & care of the Biosafety Laminar Flow Cabinet
Biosafety laminar flow cabinet or hood is used to maintain a clean environment when performing […]
REFRIGERATOR: use and care
Refrigerator is used in the microbiology laboratory to store and preserve laboratory reagents and culture […]
pH METER: maintenance & care
pH meter is a piece of equipment that is used to maintain the actual pH […]
CARE & MAINTENANCE OF THE MICROSCOPE
Microscope is a piece of instrument or equipment used by microbiologists to examine microorganisms and […]
CHEMICAL WEIGHING BALANCES
Chemical weighing balances are very sensitive piece of equipments that is used to weigh and measure chemical reagents […]
IMPORTANCE OF MICROORGANISMS
Microorganisms are studied for diverse reasons. These microscopic forms of life play tremendous significant roles […]
Mechanisms for uptake of nutrients by microorganisms – diffusion & active transport
Microbial cells employ a variety of mechanisms to uptake nutrients (including macromolecules, inorganic ions, water […]
NUTRITIONAL GROUPS OF MICROORGANISMS
Living organisms vary in terms of their mode of nutrition i.e. how they feed or […]
Microbial (Bacterial) Nutrition
Bacterial Nutritionis importantfor the optimum growth of the organism because it is the only means […]
COLONY COUNTER
Colony counter is a piece of equipment which is used in the microbiology laboratory to […]
AUTOCLAVE
Autoclave is a piece of equipment that allows materials to be heat-sterilized under pressure and […]
CORK (Hole) BORER
Cork or hole borer is a piece of instrument used to create holes on solid […]
WEIGHING BALANCE
Weighing balances are used to measure the weight of objects (particularly powdered agar and reagents) […]
AXENIC (Gnotobiotic) ANIMALS
Axenic animals are laboratory controlled animals that are germ-free i.e. animals that are not contaminated […]
SIGNIFICANCE AND APPLICATIONS OF MICROORGANISMS
Mankind has harnessed the power of microorganisms to produce countless number of products such as […]
MAJOR SCOPE / AREAS OF MICROBIOLOGY
Industrial Microbiology The use of microbes by man to produce beneficial products is an ancient […]
SCOPE OF MICROBIOLOGY
The field of Microbiology has tremendous possibilities and a very bright future, and intending or […]
GERM THEORY OF DISEASE
Germ theory of disease is the theory that human infectious diseases are caused by specific […]
SPONTANEOUS GENERATION (ABIOGENESIS)
Spontaneous generation (abiogenesis) is the mistaken hypothesis that living organisms are capable of being generated […]
Milestones in Microbiology
Other landmarks and discoveries in the field of microbiology are summarized in Table 1. Table […]
JAMES WATSON
Born on the 6th of April, 1928, James Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, […]
FRANCIS CRICK (1916-2004)
Francis Crick was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He co-discovered the molecular structure […]
FREDERICK GRIFFITH (1879-1941)
Frederick Griffith was a British bacteriologist who performed transformation experiments that suggested that DNA was […]
SERGEI WINOGRADSKY (1856-1953)
Sergei Winogradsky was a Ukrainian-Russian microbiologist, ecologist and soil scientist who was among the first […]
MARTINUS BEIJERINCK (1851-1931)
Martinus Beijerinck was a Dutch microbiologist and botanists who like Sergei Winogradsky began examining the […]
GERHARD DOMAGK (1895-1964)
Gerhard Domagk was a German pathologist and bacteriologist who reported in 1935 that prontosil (a […]
PAUL EHRLICH (1854-1915)
Systematic work on antimicrobial drugs was first initiated by the Germanphysician Paul Ehrlich. Ehrlich worked […]
DMITRI IWANOVSKI (1864-1920)
Dmitri Iwanovski was a Russian botanist, and one of the discoverer of filterable nature of […]
JOSEPH LISTER (1827-1912)
Joseph Lister, an English surgeon is the father of antiseptic surgery. He was aware of […]
IGNAZ SEMMELWEIS (1818-1865)
Ignaz Semmelweisis regarded as the father of infection control because of his discovery of the […]
ELIE METCHNIKOFF (1845-1916)
Elie Metchnikoff was a Russian biologist, zoologist and protozoologist who is best remembered for his […]
ABBE LAZZARO SPALLANZANI (1729-1799)
Lazzaro, an Italian naturalist criticized John Needham’s work on spontaneous generation. In 1769, he performed […]
GIROLAMO FRACASTORO (1478-1553)
While the issue of spontaneous generation lasted as at the time, some other scientist like […]
FRANCESCO REDI (1626-1697)
Francesco Redi, an Italian scientist was the first scientist to challenge the theory of spontaneous […]
NICOLAS APPERT (1749-1841)
Nicolas Appert, a French chef and a confectioner is the “father of canning”, and was […]
FERDINAND J. COHN (1828-1898)
Ferdinand Cohn, a German biologist was born in Breslau (now in Poland). Cohn was the […]
EDWARD JENNER (1749-1823)
Edward Jenner was the pioneer of the dreaded smallpox vaccination and also the father of […]
LOUIS PASTEUR (1822-1895)
Louis Pasteur, a French scientist was the first to report the role of microorganisms in […]
JOHN TYNDALL (1820-1883)
One of the traditional arguments against abiogenesis was the claim that the heat used to […]
ALEXANDER FLEMMING (1881-1955)
Alexander Flemming, a Scottish born physician who spent most of his time studying bacteria discovered […]
AVERY OSWALD (1877-1955)
Avery Oswald was a Canadian-born American physician and medical researcher who provided the molecular explanation […]
HANS CHRISTIAN JOACHIM GRAM (1853-1938)
Hans Gram developed a microbiological technique which is still used today in clinical microbiology practice […]
ROBERT HOOKE (1635-1703)
Robert Hooke was the first scientist to study and record living cells using the microscope. […]
JOHN NEEDHAM (1713-1781)
John Needham is the English scientist who performed experiments on spontaneous generation or abiogenesis in […]
ANTHONY VAN LEEUWENHOEK (1632-1723)
Anthony Van Leeuwenhoek was a Dutch scientist and tradesman who did a part time job […]
ROBERT KOCH (1843-1910)
Robert Koch, a German scientist was the first medical microbiologist. Koch was also the first […]