Applied Microbiology

Pharmaceutical microbiology is a branch of microbiology that is applied. Pharmaceutical microbiology also involves the study and development of anti-infectives, the use of microorganisms in medicine, and the research of microorganisms relevant to the production of pharmaceuticals, such as lowering the number of microorganisms in a process environment, removing microorganisms and microbial byproducts like exotoxin and endotoxin.

The advancement of microbial agents for biological control of plant and animal pests, modifications of plant and animal pathogens for reduced virulence, development of new industrial catalysts and fermentation organisms, and development of new microbial agents for bioremediation of soil and water contaminated by agricultural runoff are just a few of the advances that microbial biotechnology, enabled by genome studies, will bring about.

Research in microbial genomics and microbial biotechnology is essential for advancements in biotechnology, value-added goods, human nutrition and functional foods, plant and animal protection, and basic agricultural science research.

Industrial microbiology, a branch of biotechnology, makes use of microbial sciences to produce industrial commodities in huge quantities, typically using microbial cell factories. A microorganism can be manipulated in a number of ways to increase product yields. Mutations may be introduced into an organism by exposing it to mutagens. Gene amplification is an additional strategy for increasing production.

Food microbiology is the study of bacteria that exist in, create, or infect food. Research on the microbes that cause food spoilage, pathogens that can spread disease (especially if food is prepared or stored improperly), microbes that produce fermented foods like cheese, yogurt, bread, beer, and wine, as well as microbes with other beneficial functions like producing probiotics, are all included in this.

Agricultural microbiology is the study of microbes related to plants. It attempts to address farming method problems often caused by a dearth of biodiversity in microbial communities. It is beneficial to have a solid understanding of microbial strains that are pertinent to agricultural applications in order to increase things like soil nutrients, plant-pathogen resistance, crop robustness, fertiliser uptake efficiency, and other things. In the long run, it is possible to enhance food production, which is critical to feeding the expanding human population, and to develop safer farming practices in order to minimize ecological effect by taking use of the myriad symbiotic relationships between plants and bacteria.

Veterinary microbiology is the study of bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites that infect people or animals. The study of the fundamental mechanisms behind pathogen pathogenicity, pathogen detection and diagnostics, pathogen epidemiology, and antibiotic resistance are all covered in this.

The study of microbial interactions, communities, and processes in the environment is known as environmental microbiology. This includes:
The composition and activity of microbial communities connections between macro creatures and microorganisms.
The microbial population's biology.
Microbes and surfaces (adhesion and biofilm formation).
Global evolutionary processes, biogeochemical cycles, and element cycles in microbial communities.
Unusual and extreme environments with microbial life.

Water microbiology focuses on microorganisms that live in or can be transported by water from one habitat to another. Numerous different microorganisms can grow in water. This could be beneficial. In addition, some bacteria that grow in contaminated water can help with the digestion of the poisons present in the water.
However, the addition of more disease-causing bacteria to water is dangerous and even lethal.

Aeromicrobiology is the study of live bacteria that are floating in the atmosphere. These bacteria are referred to as bioaerosols. There are still lots of microorganisms in the atmosphere, despite the fact that there are many fewer than in the oceans and soil. The likelihood of widespread sickness brought on by these bacteria rises when they are suspended in the air column because they can move enormous distances with the help of wind and precipitation. These aerosols are significant ecologically because they have been connected to illness in humans, animals, and plants. Bacteria are typically floating in clouds, where they can perform chemical transformations and potentially trigger precipitation.

A wide range of methods for modifying biological things for human benefit are referred to as "biotechnology" These methods go back to the domestication of animals, the cultivation of plants, and the "improvements" given to them through artificial selection and hybridization-based breeding programs. Modern technology includes cell and tissue culture as well as genetic engineering.

Clinical microbiology focuses on the isolation and characterization of infectious organisms in order to manage and treat them in patients. A wide range of agents can cause infection, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. For the purpose of diagnosing an infection, a patient's sample must be collected at a site on the body where the presence of a pathogen or its associated biomarkers is likely to suggest disease.