JOHN NEEDHAM (1713-1781)

John Needham is the English scientist who performed experiments on spontaneous generation or abiogenesis in mutton broth and hay infusions. Needham showed that mutton broth boiled in flask and then sealed could still develop microorganisms, which supported the theory of spontaneous generation. He took hot boiling mutton gravy (meat infusion) in a flask and closed

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General Microbiology, , ,

ANTHONY VAN LEEUWENHOEK (1632-1723)

Anthony Van Leeuwenhoek was a Dutch scientist and tradesman who did a part time job as a draper and amateur microscopist while investigating the microbial world whit his crude or simple microscopes. Leeuwenhoek is generally known as “the Father of Microbiology”, and he is also considered to be the first microbiologist since he was the

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General Microbiology, , , ,

ROBERT KOCH (1843-1910)

Robert Koch, a German scientist was the first medical microbiologist. Koch was also the first to establish the actual relationship between the causative agent of a disease and the disease condition itself. Koch ushered in the beginning of bacteriology, an important field in microbiology that studies bacteria; and he is thus regarded as the father

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General Microbiology, , , , ,

Historical Perspectives of Microbiology

Microbiology as a field in the biological sciences saw the light of the day because of several innovative research and experiments by pioneers in this field. The study of microbiology will be incomplete without a touch on the founding fathers of this important field of biological sciences. Several scientists in time past contributed tremendously to

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General Microbiology, , ,

SIGNIFICANCE OF BIODETERIORATION/BIODEGRADATION

Microorganisms are ubiquitous and they play several roles in the degradation of recalcitrant organic and inorganic materials in the environment. The degradation of these materials that constitute environmental hazards in the environment can be carried out under aerobic and anaerobic conditions; and these processes leads to the production of several environmentally-friendly substances and compounds that

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Environmental & Soil Microbiology, , ,

MICROBIAL DISEASES TRANSMISSIBLE THROUGH THE SOIL

Microorganisms are ubiquitous and are thus found everywhere including the soil. The soil no doubt is inundated with a wide variety of microorganisms including those that are pathogenic to humans, plants and animals and even microbes that are of immense industrial and economic importance to mankind and his environment. For example, the first commercial antibiotic

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Environmental & Soil Microbiology, ,

HOST-PARASITE RELATIONSHIPS (MICROBIAL ASSOCIATIONS)

A host-parasite relationship is an association that exists between two organisms known as the host and the parasite, in which both organisms either derive benefit from the relationship or is harmed in the process. Microorganisms are ubiquitous, and they often exist in association with other forms of life in their ecological niches including man, plants

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Environmental & Soil Microbiology, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Environmental Microbiology

Environmental microbiology is the study of microbial processes in the environment, microbial communities and microbial interactions with other living organisms in the environment. Environmental microbiology is the branch of microbiology that studies the role of microorganisms in the maintenance of a healthy, quality, and sustainable environment. It is the study of the composition and physiology

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Environmental & Soil Microbiology, , , , , ,

OUTPUT OF ANTIMICROBIAL DRUG SUSCEPTIBILITY TESTING

The output of an antimicrobial drug susceptibility test is often expressed as raw data which are either expressed in the form of a zone size/diameter or minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) formerly known as National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standard (NCCLS) has published interpretation criteria for different antimicrobial agents. This

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Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST) & Antibiogram, Microbe Lab, , , , , , ,