Recent studies have indicated that the Nation will soon face a critical shortage of microbiologists trained in industrial microbiology. In response to this need, the Department of Biology and Microbiology is developing a new industrial microbiology laboratory course to complement the existing lecture-based Industrial and Fermentation Microbiology course. The department is acquiring equipment to be used in this course and making significant improvements to the laboratory component of the Bacterial Physiology course required of microbiology majors. The improvements are providing microbiology majors with a strong background in basic microbiological concepts. More importantly, it is enabling them to gain hands-on experience in the application of these concepts in the intricately related fields of bacterial physiology and industrial microbiology. The department acquiring bench top fermenters, a large shaker incubator, cell harvesting and disruption equipment, microtiter plate readers, and a biochemistry analyzer. This equipment is enabling students to gain experience in the use of the state-of-the-art equipment commonly found in industrial settings and meeting the growing need for microbiologists trained in traditional and industrial microbiology.
