BI1FM1: Fundamentals of Microbiology

Module code: BI1FM1

Module provider: School of Biological Sciences

Credits: 20

Level: 4

When you’ll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Dr Geraldine Mulley , email: g.mulley@reading.ac.uk

Module co-convenor: Dr Glyn Barrett, email: glyn.barrett@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2025/6

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 3 April 2025

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module will provide you with a strong foundation in the discipline of Microbiology. You will learn the fundamental biology of bacteria, archaea, protists, fungi and viruses and discover their amazing diversity, exploring microbial structure, genetics, replication, nutrition, ecology and evolution. You will consider why microbes are only able to live in certain environmental conditions, including on or inside other organisms, and how some microbes benefit society whilst others cause harm. You will gain a broad understanding of how pathogens cause infections, the various ways to diagnose, treat and prevent infectious diseases in humans, animals, and plants, and find out how microbes evolve antimicrobial resistance. You will gain insight into the methods used to classify microbes and put some of these techniques into practice in the practical classes to identify bacteria from environmental samples. You will also learn how to safely work with microbiological samples using aseptic technique, and to isolate, purify, stain, and observe microbial cells using the light microscope. You will also be taught how to search for scientific literature on a selected area of microbiology to produce a piece of written work that communicates interesting details and concepts in a scientific style. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Describe the fundamental characteristics of the 5 major groups of microbes, comparing their structure, genetics, replication, nutrition, ecology, and evolution, and discuss their diversity in relation to the environmental niches they inhabit.
2. Explain how some microbes cause infectious diseases and how they are transmitted, diagnosed, treated, and prevented, including the mechanism of action of antimicrobials and principles of vaccination.
3. Describe key landmarks in microbiology research and discuss the ways in which this can benefit society through applications in medicine, food, environment, and biotechnology.
4. Explain the principles of aseptic technique and core microbiology practical techniques, and use some of these methods to safely isolate, purify and identify microbes from food and environmental samples, keeping an accurate record of observations and results.
5. Search for, integrate and summarise scientific literature to communicate key concepts in microbiology in a scientific writing style, citing relevant literature and compiling a bibliography using the Harvard system.

Module content

Lecture material includes the following topics:

• Prokaryotic microbes: structure and function, replication, growth optima, nutritional strategies and biochemistry of bacteria and archaea
• Eukaryotic microbes: structure and function, replication, growth optima, nutritional strategies and biochemistry of fungi and protists
• Acellular microbes: structure, function and replication of viruses and other acellular entities (satellites, viroids, prions)
• Microbial ecology: concept of niches, free-living, commensals and pathogens, microbial competition and cooperation, host-microbe interactions, microbiomes
• Microbial evolution: origin and diversity of microbes, RNA world hypothesis, LUCA and the tree of life, endosymbiotic theory, mutations, recombination, genetic drift, genetic shift, natural selection, horizontal gene transfer, experimental evolution
• Microbial classifi