About this item
Microbiology is the study of life itself, down to the smallest particle Microbiology is a fascinating field that explores life down to the tiniest level. Did you know that your body contains more bacteria cells than human cells? It's true. Microbes are essential to our everyday lives, from the food we eat to the very internal systems that keep us alive. These microbes include bacteria, algae, fungi, viruses, and nematodes. Without microbes, life on Earth would not survive. It's amazing to think that all life is so dependent on these microscopic creatures, but their impact on our future is even more astonishing. Microbes are the tools that allow us to engineer hardier crops, create better medicines, and fuel our technology in sustainable ways. Microbes may just help us save the world.
About the Author
Jennifer C. Stearns, PhD: Jennifer is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Medicine at McMaster University, where, along with Dr. Michael Surette, she pushes back the boundaries of medicinal microbiology every day. She currently researches how the usually benign bacteria in the respiratory tract can sometimes make people sick. Jennifer has published over a dozen peer-reviewed papers/book chapters on plant-microbe interactions, human-associated bacterial communities, and techniques for microbial research. Captivated by the images of microbes in her mother's nursing textbooks as a child, Jennifer eagerly soaked up knowledge about microbiology everywhere she could. Seeing her interest in all things micro, her high school biology teacher, Mr. Tunnicliffe, lent her a copy of the novel The Hot Zone, which forever made her love deadly viruses. She did the first part of her formal training at the University of Waterloo, where she harnessed the potential of microbes to improve crop plant stress in the biotechnology lab of Dr. Bernie Glick, and applied the principles of microbial ecology to the bacteria living in the human GI tract in Dr. Josh Neufeld's lab. It was here that she was inspired by the awesome diversity of microorganisms in nature and in our everyday lives. You can follow her musings on the microbiology of the human body on the Human Microbiome Journal Club blog at http://hmjournalclub.wordpress.com.
