r/microbiology

Hi. I am currently 17 and I want to study microbiology. I am not sufficiently smart for many things, however I will regardless attempt to study this career, as I have always prefered the medical field over engineerings or pure sciences.

I do have autism and ADHD which severely impair my ability to think abstractly, have a reliant memory, communicate, concentrate, and all that. I obviously suffer from executive dysfunction which hinders my ability to work in fast-paced enviroments, and I am consequently also a little bit slow, so to say.

Does the microbiology career and the jobs related thereto reliant on these abilities? Should I still pursue the field? I really like this field, and even though I am not very smart I still quite like biology and chemestry a little too. I am costa rican, albeit I believe the field in here is relatively similar in the U.S and other countries as well.

So I work for a large research facility which means we use a lot of veroe6 cells to make lots of 12 well plates for assays. The past few months we have had issues with the monolayers being uneven in the wells and inconsistent confluency. We recently changed our processing to see if it fixes the problem and it hasn't. We have tried rocking each plate immediately after seeding, warming the plates, different well volumes, letting the plates sit before incubating. Nothing seems to help. We have had these issues across multiple lines (we have our own cryopreserved banks). All lines have tested negative for mycoplasma and endotoxin. Any ideas or advice? I'm putting our current process below.

For a t300

Wash twice with 20ml hbss

4 ml of trypsin incubator at 37 c for 4-6 min

Smack flask once

Nuetralize with 16 ml of media (keep the flask flat as this is done)

Mix flask 20 times

Seed new flasks at 8e6 for 3 day split

No feeds and we usually get counts between 1.2e6 and 1.8 e6

My father worked as a microbiology/virology lab supervisor at an area hospital for about 23 years. He's 58 and not too far off from retirement but he needs to bridge the gap. He gave his all to his work and loves what he does and I want to know what I can do to help him find work. I know it might be harder given his age but he's extremely qualified as far as my siblings and I are aware and I would love to see him thrive in his last years in the workforce at a place that will value him as he deserves. If I could know what to look for in job listings that might fit his experience or anyone has been here before and can offer guidance that would be lovely. Any advice is appreciated.

I graduated with a BS in microbiology almost two years ago now. And I’m really struggling on trying to figure my life out and what to do with my degree. I originally wanted to do CLS but I know I’m no where near competitive enough as a candidate especially in California (low gpa cause I struggled a lot in undergrad). Looked into Public Health Microbiologist, and wondered what that pathway was like. My job searching just hasn’t been the best and I just feel pretty damn stuck and would appreciate any advice on what other career paths others have taken.

I'm a newbie and I have some questions for the experienced folks about plating of agar plates.

The flask is generally too hot to hold , and letting it cool would also mean unwanted solidifying of the Agar in the flask itself. What's the best way to tackle this situation ? I've considered using a cloth to hold the flask but doing so increases the chances of contamination that is why I don't really prefer that method.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Hello everyone! Im a first year student studying Microbiology and Immunology in New Zealand. I picked the degree because I I love the environment and animals and I found the micro level of biology super interesting.

However I'm worried that with this degree I'll be stuck in a lab for the rest of my life. I love being outside with the plants and animal and conservation is important to me and I want to be outside exploring whilst doing research. I wanted to ask if anyone has any recommendations on the path I should take? should I switch to a different major or is there a pathway where I can combine the two?