Microbiology vs Biochemistry

[Smooth Operater]

I know this topic my not be related to med schools, but I am under the impression that some people here did a degree in Microbio or Biochem or know something about it from friends.

What are the differences between these two major? I heard Microbiology emphasizes on living thing at cellular level, wherease Biochemistry emphasizes more at molecular level. Biochem students are required to memorize tons of pathways, structures of reactanct/product. And Microbio grads gain more lab teachniques. Is true?

It will be nice if someone can tell me what what will I expect to learning in Biochem or Microbio ?

Hope this will provide me some information to which major I would enjoy the most. Thanx!

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[HessExpress]

To tell you the truth, both degrees are quite similair to the traditional biology degree. Biochemistry is more different due to the chem requirements (physical and analytical), but in essence the only reason these majors exist (biochem, neurobio, microbio, etc.) is to attract students into thinking their major will be nothing but this. Aka, it's a marketing ploy. I know at my school that a biochem degree is only different from a bio degree by 2 to 3 classes tops. A microbio degree is roughly the same.

In otherwords, don't expect to be learning nothing but microbio or biochem if you choose one as your major.

 

[Fermata]

Biochem, biology, and microbiology overlap a whole lot.

Why not just be a biology major and take the extra courses that you find interesting?

 

[elias514]

I earned a BS in microbiology so I'm somewhat qualified to answer this question. IMHO microbiology is a great major, chiefly because you'll learn so much about pathogenic microbes (disease-causing bugs) and how the human body responds to these little bastards. The biochem major, though it is typically flexible enough to accomodate some exposure to these areas, is much more focused on molecular biology rather than disease processes. The interactions between microbes and the human body is a fascinating topic and one that microbiology majors spend a significant amount of time studying, in addition to learning a considerable amount regarding the structure and function of microbial life per se.

Here's a sample of the upper-division courses that I took as part of my micro degree:

The Structure and Function of Microbes--this is an introduction to the biochemistry, cellular structure, and function of various forms of microbial life (esp. prokaryotes--i.e., bacteria--and viruses)

Host/Microbe Interactions--an introduction to the various relationships between humans and microbes, ranging from the pathologic to the mutually beneficial. There's a significant dose of immunology in this course, which is the study of how the body defends itself against infection and disease.

Microbial Physiology--a massive dose of microbial biochemistry and physiology

Tumor biology--awesome course that focused on numerous aspects of cancer, from the biologic basis (genetics, biochemistry, etc.) of tumors to the epidemiology of cancer (study of the distribution of cancer in populations). Tough course but very interesting stuff--cancer is absolutely fascinating.

Advanced immunology--great course on the human immune system (to this day I have a solid understanding of how the immune system works)

Human infectious diseases--survey of the various diseases that affect man and the bugs that cause them. Really good course.

Public health bacteriology lab--got to work with a variety of pathogens, including the bacterial species that cause tuberculosis, food poisoning, gonnorrhea, and other diseases

...and plenty of other courses.

Hope this helps.

 

[AWhitehair]

This is a great thread. I decided a few days ago I would like to be a micro major. The school I attend now does not offer the degree, but I will be transfering next year to a school that does. I will just continue to take the basic bio degree courses and then when I transfer I will start on the micro courses specific to the major. My friend graduated this month as a micro major and she was telling me how awesome the classes were that she got to take. She told me stories about the labs and how the students had to swab themselves (their genitals) and test for different kinds of microbes. I was fascinated, but thought that would be kind of embarrasing if you tested positive.

 

[Smooth Operater]

thanx for the reply guys!! My school, University of British Columbia actually offer Microbio and Biochem courses that needed to be completed to get the specific major. Yeah, lots of older microbio students here really enjoy the labs, but some actually hated b/c the stinky agar smell in our microbio lab building.

So far from what I've gathered, I think I would enjoy microbio more. But again, I havn't talked to too many Biochem seniors yet. I just know there's lots of memorization on pathways and protein structures. Maybe some Biochem students can help me out?

thanx!

 

[Medikit]

I think it depends on whether the Biochem is under the Chemistry or Biology. I'm a double major Biology/Chemistry emphasis: Biochemistry and I know a lot of microbiologists. Vertebrate physiology isn't a part of microbiology, but at least at my school it can be used as a Biochemistry elective. Micro doesn't just emphasize the cellular level (it's not the same as a Cell Biology degree) it tends to emphasize prokaryotes. And frankly prokaryotes just aren't that interesting to me, plus you spend a lot of time on photosynthetic organisms (boring as hell to me). With Chemistry emph: Biochemistry you have to do a lot more math, usually three semesters, or up through multivariable calc. You do three semesters of physics for engineers (calculus based) instead of the standard two semesters (trig based). You also take Pchem, which can be an extremely difficult class if you have a poor instructor. I chose biochem because I love chemistry, if you hate chemistry, math, or physics don't do it.

To your second question about Biochemistry: I just finished up my second and last semester of Biochem. I have to say I really loved it. Memorizing pathways is more of a cell biology thing, but there are some pathways you memorize for Biochem as well. For the most part though you start with the principles of water, what makes water so great, then you start talking about protein structure, learning about all of the intermolecular and intramolecular attractions. You do memorize amino acid names and structure, but this is important because the structure is a really important part of cell chemistry. You study active sites and the importance of particular amino acids to interact with the substrate. You go over enzyme kinetics, talking about rates and so forth. Then it gets fun and you start talking about sugars and glucose metabolism, and you start talking about pathways here, but it's really quite enjoyable. Then you get into glycoylsis and the Krebb's cycle which I really enjoyed, you go over the mechanisms which are quite interesting and how you can terminate cycle early and how some of the intermediates can be used in other pathways as well. You also really get into inhibitors and inducers of the pathway, which makes sense. Finally you get into amino acid and fatty acid metabolism/synthesis and you're done.

The next semester I didn't enjoy as much. It's nucleic acid chemistry and you will finally learn about DNA, it will no longer just be four bases on a sugar-phosphate backbone. Hell I can draw out adenine now and I didn't even have to memorize it. You talk about nucleophillic phosphoryl substition so much you start to get sick of it. Then you get into talking about the DNA polymerases and RNA polymerases, and ribosomes. This is where I started to lose interest but it overlaps a lot with Genetics, which is cool. I really like Biochem and definitely recommend it, I personally don't think Micro is a good pre-med major, I think Biochem plus a few extra bio classes in case Biochem doesn't overlap with some necessary MCAT classes is the best way to go (only if you like chemistry!) If you are still considering Microbiology consider Microbiology with a concentration in Clinical lab sciences. At my school these students take Hematology, Parasitology, and Vert. Phys in place of prokaryote geared courses found in Microbiology. You will also meet a lot of cool people who intend to work in labs later, which should give you something to talk about later on with the labtechs making you a more personable doctor.

 

[hakksar]

Well I have a BS in Biochem. It does tend to overlap a lot with Microbiology (in fact in my lag year I am working as a Research Assistant in a Micro lab at CU med school). However, there are some fundamental differences. In Biochem you tend to focus more on the actual mechanisms of life such as the actual processes of DNA replication, Transcription, Translation, lipid synthesis etc in both eucaryotic and prokaryotic cells. In Micro they tended at my school to look at things from a more cellular level (ie they learned about all of the above things but concentrated much more on prokaryotic organisms and also focussed more on classification of different bacteria and viruses). When compared to a standard bio major at my school there was a lot better foundation in molecular biology in both biochem and micro then regular bio. In addition, Biochem required a lot more chemistry (in particular analytical chem and Physical Chem) then a micro major (this is both a good and bad thing). Biochem tended to be a "harder" major at my undergrad then micro (most likely because of the different chemistry requirements since chemistry was a particularly difficult dept at my undergrad). I feel either micro or biochem will prepare you well for a career in medicine or science. However, regardless of what major you choose try to get a broad experience as an undergrad. Take lots of electives in several biomedical fields (such as immunology, anatomy, neuroscience, developmental biology, histology, and both biochem and micro). This will both help you prepare for the MCAT and provide a sound foundation for medical school. I am not sure if this info helps but I thought a biochem major should way in.

edit: also I never memorized all the amino acid structures (although I did at one time memorize all the amino acids in each class such as + and - charged, hydrophobic, polar uncharged etc), and the amount of memorization for pathways was minimal (about the same as memorizing what bacteria are gram + and - as well as both facultative and obligate aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, all the different types of viruses and which ones fit in each class etc). I really think the rote memorization required in each major is comprable.

 

[Medikit]

edit: also I never memorized all the amino acid structures (although I did at one time memorize all the amino acids in each class such as + and - charged, hydrophobic, polar uncharged etc)

I ended up learning them passively anyways, you think about them a lot and they are relatively simple in structure. I love passive memorization.

 

[MErc44]

I will be graduating with a micro degree in about 2 weeks and I have to say I have been dissappointed with the major. It wasn't clinical enough for me, that is why I will enjoy medical school much more than college in terms of material. I had to take gen. micro, bacterial pathogenesis, cellular growth and oncogenesis, immunobiology, a total worthless class at my school I didn't learn anything useful and virology. I also took gen micro lab, bac path lab and immunobiology lab. Micro and immuno lab were great but bac path was terrible. I can't say that I enjoyed any of the above mentioned classes, I actually enjoyed the biochem classes that I took more. I decided to be a micro major because I have had an interest in infectious diseases since I was in middle school and my major didn't give me enough of it, too much focus on detailed molecular pathways not enough on diseases. My bac path class was mainly focused on virulence factors and other gene products of bacteria that cause disease and not on the diseases themselves. Oh well, if I had to do it again I would probably be an aquatic bio major so I do research diving and get credit for it.

 

[Smooth Operater]

Yeah, Biochem degree is definitely harder in my school cuz it requires students to take an extra chem course, and lots of chem course. I am good at chemistry, but I don't know if I have the passion for it. Just like math and physic, I am really good at, but I just do them cuz I need the marks.

 

[Medikit]

Yeah, Biochem degree is definitely harder in my school cuz it requires students to take an extra chem course, and lots of chem course. I am good at chemistry, but I don't know if I have the passion for it. Just like math and physic, I am really good at, but I just do them cuz I need the marks.

You're just starting out so take advantage of the overlap. Take two semesters of calc since some med schools like that and wait until you get through Biochemistry to see what you think, I didn't know I liked Chemistry until my 4th semester of it.