Undergraduate work in bacteriology or microbiology is desirable but not necessary. The program is selected by the student with the guidance and approval of an advisory committee. Candidates for the M.S. degree must complete 30 hours of graduate credit including six hours of research, and present and defend a thesis based on original research. Candidates for the Ph.D. degree must complete 18 hours of dissertation research, complete a core curriculum and present and defend a dissertation based on original research. S Epidemiology of transmissible diseases including pathogenic characteristics of the infectious organism, modes of transmission, mechanism of infection, diagnostic aids, effective treatments, immunizing procedures and methods of preventing infection.
Emphasis is on laboratory procedures for the identification of the more common taxonomic groups.
N Microbes that inhabit the marine environment, their peculiar physiological traits and contributions to the ecology of oceans. S Cytology, physiology, metabolism and genetics of bacteria including growth and death, reproduction and mutation, nutrition and metabolic pathways, regulatory mechanisms and effects of environment. F Microbial aspects of large-scale processes for the production of foods, antibiotics, enzymes, fine chemicals and beverages including strain selection, culture maintenance, biosynthetic pathways, continuous cultivation and production of single cell protein. F Introduction to the field of virology including animal, bacterial and plant viruses. Topics include nomenclature and classification, biochemical and biophysical characteristics, mechanisms of replication, chemotherapy and techniques for isolation, assay and purification.