Branches: Medical Microbiology: Involves in identifying, treatment or prevention of some diseases caused by bacteria, virus, and fungi.

The medical microbiologists research on different diseases, their causes, development and pathogenesis. Medical Microbiology: Every human needs good, purified water for survival. These microbiologists ensure and monitor the quality of the water supplied to the domestic areas. Food Microbiology: It deals with the fermentations and fermented products like yogurt, beer, wine etc. These microbiologists involve in prevention of deterioration and spoilage of the food products and have a continuous hygiene checks on the food products to prevent any food poisonings. Environmental Microbiology: It involves in the study of ecological study which includes air, water, food and environment as such. These microbiologists check the factory wastes which can cause pollution of the air or water thus increasing the rate of poisoning or diseases in the environment. Agricultural Microbiology: It is dealing with the various aspects of agriculture. Microbes act as fertilizers as they fix nitrogen in soil but some microbes attack these agricultural fields which may in-turn lead to food poisoning, when taken raw. These microbiologists deal with checking out the safety of the agricultural fields. Bacteriology: It dealing with the Study of bacteria. Mycology: It dealing with the Study of fungi. Virology: It dealing with the Study of viruses. Immunology: It dealing with the Study of the immune system in all organisms. Importance:

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to carefully take care of an open wound without infecting it

Prokaryote Cell A single celled organism that does not have a nucleus.

Eukaryote Cell A more complex cell with a nucleus and many organelles.

Ferdinand J Cohn published an early classification of bacteria (genus name Bacillus) for the first time in 1875. Ilya Ilich Metchnikoff received the Nobel Prize in 1908 with Ehrlich, for demonstrating phagocytosis - the consumption of foreign particles and bacteria by the body's own antibodies. Alice Catherine Evans (1881-1975). Her work in Wisconsin Dept. of Agriculture led to the identification of bacteria in fresh milk. Her later research, at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), improved the treatment of epidemic meningitis and she became first female president of the American Society for Microbiology in 1928. Ruth Ella Moore (1903-1994). The first African American to gain a PhD in microbiology in 1933 at Ohio State University, where she researched the tuberculosis bacterium. Later she became the first woman to chair a medical school department at Howard University. Rebecca Craighill Lancefield (1895-1981). Developed a system of classification for Group A streptococcal bacteria - the Lancefield Grouping - which identifies bacteria including those causing scarlet fever, sore throat and erysipelas. She received the Lasker Award and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Holger Jannasch was one of the world's leading experts on life around mid-ocean hydrothermal vents. His team discovered Pyrolobus fumarii, an Archaea, at the mid-Atlantic ridge in 1996. Holger died in 1999.

IMMUNIZATION & TREATMENT Louis Pasteur (1822 -1895). Developed a method of immunizing against a disease (chicken cholera) using a weakened (attenuated) strain of the pathogen in 1880. In 1885 he carried out successful, but unethical, experiments with rabies on a child. The term virus (poison) was coined by Pasteur. Emil von Behring received the Nobel Prize in 1901 for his work with Shibasaburo Kitasato on the antitoxin serum for diptheria. Paul Ehrlich in 1912, announced the discovery of an effective cure for syphilis, the first chemotherapeutic agent for a bacterial disease. Margaret Pittman (1901-1995). Identified the cause of whooping cough, which led to the development of an improved vaccine. She became the first woman to direct a laboratory at the

NIH and was cholera consultant to the World Health Organization and a leader in the standardization of vaccines. Gerhard J Domagk used a chemically-produced antimetabolite to kill streptococci in mice, in 1935. It was later used on human patients and he received the 1939 Nobel Prize for his work. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928 whilst working at St Mary's Hospital in London and published the first paper on it the following year. He received the Nobel Prize in 1945, with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, for their work on Penicillium notatum. William A Hinton (1883-1959). Directed the Massachusetts State Wasserman Laboratory from 1915 and taught for 30 years at Harvard University Medical School, becoming full professor there in 1949. He developed a widely-used test for diagnosing syphilis. He was instrumental in establishing the Eisenhower Scholarship at Harvard University. Albert Shatz, E Bugie and Selman Waksman discovered streptomycin in 1944, which was then used to counter tuberculosis. Selman Waksman received the Nobel Prize in 1952.

PLANTS & SOIL Sergei Winogradsky, in 1890, isolated nitrifying bacteria in soil and described the organisms which are responsible for nitrification. Dmitri Ivanowski published the first evidence of tobacco mosaic virus, in 1892. CB Van Niel, by his work on photosynthetic bacteria, in 1931 explained the fixation of carbondioxide in plants and suggested that plants use water as a source of electrons and release oxygen. Wendell Stanley, in 1935, demonstrated the tobacco mosaic virus remains active even after crystallization. He received the Nobel Prize in 1946 with Northrop and Sumner. VECTORS Theobald Smith and F L Kilbourne, in 1893 provided evidence of a zoonotic disease (in this case animal host and arthropod vector) by establishing that ticks carry Babesia microti. Walter Reed worked on the viral agent for yellow fever being transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, which inspired mosquito eradication and the Yellow Fever Commission in 1900.

VIRUSES & PRIONS Frederick Twort, between 1915 and 1917, first discovered a bacterial virus which was also independently described and named as a bacteriophage by Felix d'Herrelle. Francis Peyton Rous was awarded the 1966 Nobel Prize for work he carried out on chickens in 1911, that gave the first experimental proof of a virus causing cancer. Stanley Prusiner found evidence in 1982 that a class of infections he called "prions" cause scrapie, a fatal neurodegenerative disease of sheep and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1997. Luc Montaigner and Robert Gallo announced in 1983 the discovery of the human immunodeficien