The Fields of Microbiology, Virology, and Immunology.
Immunology is the study of the response of higher organisms to foreign substances.
Because of their rapid growth rate and relative simplicity, microbes are often the experimental subjects of choice for examining basic genetic and biological phenomena. A significant fraction of contemporary biochemical research employs microbiological and immunological methods. A Sampling of What Microbiologists Do . Environmental microbiologists identify organisms and research their uses, such as cleaning up oil spills and hazardous wastes. They also develop genetic probes to detect microbial contaminants in the water supply Agricultural microbiologists may work on developing disease-resistant crops, or producing vaccines that protect livestock from disease.