Genetics investigates the way in which genetic material and information are transmitted from parents to offspring, the changes taking place in genetic information and the consequences of these changes. The objects of research range from single molecules to large populations. Genetic manipulation and engineering have opened up new horizons for biotechnological applications. Today these new technologies are in wide usage in almost all biological research, and increasingly also in medical research and in the agricultural and forestry sciences. General microbiology focuses on the structural, functional and physiological aspects of bacteria, yeasts, fungi and viruses, as well as on the interaction between microbes and their environment.
Modern biotechnology is based on the industrial exploitation of microbes.
Microbes play a central role in natural decomposition processes and these processes are taken advantage of, for example, in waste management. Medical microbiology studies the microbes behind infectious diseases and investigates methods for the prevention of these diseases. Methods of study During the first year of studies, students of biology follow the same courses as students in the Department of Ecology and Systematics. This basic curriculum provides a solid background for major subject studies in both the biosciences and in ecology and systematics. Two-thirds of the students decide to major in one of the disciplines offered by the Department of Biosciences, where teaching is by lectures and laboratory courses, seminars and practical training in the research groups.