Good Primers on Microbiology/Biomedical Science?

Red or Alive

A bit of background: back in 2005 I embarked on a life sciences course in a leading Scottish university with a vague idea of gaining a bachelor's degree in biochemistry. Despite shambolic results in my second year, I still managed to stumble my way into the biochemistry degree stream; admittedly, this was on the basis that if I didn't up my grades I would no longer be eligible for Honours. My grades did not improve. I was, however, awarded an Ordinary degree in "Biomolecular Sciences" (basically, a catch-all category for those students who did not progress to a fourth year of study). At the time this felt more a like a consolation prize for having turned up to my labs and lectures. Later experience has not really changed that opinion.

Two years in the wilderness later, several of my father's colleagues suggest I pursue a career in biomedical science. The idea appeals to me on a number of levels, not least the fact that I can build on my existing degree at the same time. As the old alma mater does not provide an accredited degree (lab tech jobs usually being left to the local polytechnics) I registered at a local "new" university. I'm due to start next week.

So, TL;DR: I need good, succinct primers on microbiology and biomedical science. Manuals on good laboratory practice wouldn't hurt either. Bear in mind that I already have a prior education in molecular biology and, generally, have a bit of a chip on my shoulder about this whole "education" thing and wouldn't be too keen on anything too patronising. Even if terribly little of that education penetrated my skull at the time.

If anyone has any decent suggestions, I'd be very grateful.

ceres

If there's a chip of any size, pursuing it right now could end up with you being pretty miserable and still not doing well, but good luck with this anyway. I think this sort of lab work is tons of fun, although at the moment I've only worked in an academic setting, in a lab-hand capacity.

I have a textbook I'd like to recommend, but the caveat is that I don't know how it works as a primer, per se. It's a very in-depth book, but two different classes I have use it (molecular genetics, and cell and molecular biology). I've thumbed through it on my own before I even needed to take the classes, because it has some very nice pictures. It's called Molecular Biology of the Cell, and the most recent edition is a big, bright-red book. I'm told by my prof (who used an earlier edition when he was a grad student and loves it) that as a cost-cutting measure the publishers took out a lot of info that most classes never get to for time reasons, but they still wanted to include it so they put it on a DVD with the book. Indeed, the new edition is one of the cheaper bio textbooks I've bought new, weighing in at about $125 (hardcover) on Amazon. It's a giant textbook though, not an introductory guide.

Probably one of the most valuable things you can do for yourself going into this whether you find a primer or not is to brush up on your organic chemistry, and brush hard. If you have to take any kind of molecular biology, you will not be sorry you did.

Red or Alive

Ah, the chip is mostly bruised ego. I would like to have been further along at this stage in my life, is all.

Anyway, I actually have a copy of MBotC. The 5th edition at any rate. It's a good book. However, biomedical science (as decided by the IBMS) places a much bigger emphasis on microbiology (which I'm less familiar with, though not a neophyte). The point on organic chemistry is still very valid; my inability to sit down and memorise the most important reaction maps (I forget the proper name for charting synthesis reactions) was pretty disastrous for my abortive academic career. In fact, something like a series of pocket books for organic reactions is pretty much what I'm looking for: small(-ish), slim(-ish), able to be opened and read anywhere, that kind of thing. Well, that and a microbio equivalent.

Dropping Loads

Looking on my shelf now at books I still use:
Molecular Genetics of Bacteria by Snyder and Champness. This is a great primer for many topics and builds well from the simple stuff to the complex stuff. Another reason this book is good is it teaches the original experiments that allowed scientists 100 years ago to determine these principles, and explains in what ways those experiments are still or are no longer scientifically valid. The chapters then conclude with ways that modern biologists use those principles to perturb living systems. This is what an academic would consider "good bathroom reading" .

Biochemistry by Voet and Voet is my all time favorite. It is very accessible and perfectly broken up by topics, but focuses more on the chemistry than the biology, so if you're not into chemistry you wont like it. Edit: Just saw your second post. This is THE book to get if you need to work on metabolic pathways. If you need pure organic chemistry with no biology, then get Organic Chemistry by Solomons and Fryhle, or Organic Chemistry by Vollhard and Schore.

I'm not familiar with Molecular Biology of the Cell, but Ceres' description seems like it's good about avoiding fluff.

The only book I'd actively recommend against is Cell, as in my experience it seemed more disjointed / factoidal rather than math & chemistry based. The topics don't seem connected by complexity. There are always new editions of this book, so YMMV.

For lab notebooks, the absolute best is a 3 volume series called Molecular Cloning by Sambrook and Russell (in professional labs these books are called "Maniatis" after the name of a former contributor). These books contain almost every protocol that is currently used in a biology lab, but this is not casual reading. It's much more of a reference book. There should be a copy in just about any lab at the university, and others in the library. The school may have access to an online edition as well.

http://openwetware.org/wiki/Main_Page is a bit more accessible, but contains a lot of anecdotal information and occasional errors. It's a good way to find a practical way to do an experiment that seems too confusing in Maniatis.

Even with these "user recommended" books, you might end up using something else in class, which would be just as fine, assuming the teacher is actively using it. I wouldn't spend too much money trying to get ahead. The idea of getting "pocket readers" might not be so good. The problem is that they try to be complete but are way too brief, rather than saying "remember these things from your textbook? Go back to X page if you don't". Many textbooks come with study guides these days, or of course by taking your own notes you can build your own, which will be far more valuable. There may be good pocket readers out there but I don't know of any off the top of my head.

Good luck! This stuff is really fun when it all starts to tie together.

Red or Alive

Good suggestions all, thank you. Hopefully, come the end of next week, I should have a better idea of what I'm looking for.

DusT_HounD

Seconding Cell and Maniatis.

Also, I find a useful resource to be the 'Instant Notes' series, which have both Biochem and Microbiology, although i don't have these two myself, the high quality of the Neuroscience and Immunology books from that series that i DO have make me think that they could be one to take a look at. Forget any connotations of these being for beginners, or 'patronising' or whatever, as they contain concise and valuable info. (And in reality, no good scientist would ever consider themselves to be 'above' owning materials like these.)

I'd personally dispute the organic chem., unless that's specifically the type of lab you plan to go into; working in a biomedical science lab, particularly if it's a tech job, you may end up performing assays and preparing materials using established protocols and using ready-to-use kits, however it wouldn't hurt, as Ceres says, to brush up.

FWIW, i'm a postdoc working in a biomedical science lab.

Red or Alive

Have ordered the latest edition of Instant Notes for Microbiology. Thanks for pointing them out, D_H. And I already have a small library of books devoted to molecular biology from my last bout of higher education, so I'm good to go on that score.

(The reference to "patronising" materials was unnecessary. And probably unfounded. I apologise.)

ceres

Yeah, the ochem isn't necessarily for the lab work you go into, but rather the classes you'll need to take to get that far. :P Unless you're pursuing work that will require a graduate degree, chances are you won't use it in the day-to-day. For your molecular bio classes (and sometimes micro as well) , though, you'll be glad if you take the time to review that stuff.

Dropping Loads

DusT_HounD wrote: »

Forget any connotations of these being for beginners, or 'patronising' or whatever, as they contain concise and valuable info. (And in reality, no good scientist would ever consider themselves to be 'above' owning materials like these.)

Yeah, this is an awesome point. There is no bad way to go about learning useful information and keeping it close at hand. I'm glad you found a good source! I've never heard of the Instant Notes series, I'll check it out too .