The undergraduate microbiology major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is offered through both the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR).
Areas of Specialization
Clinical and veterinary microbiology (including medical, dental, and other health related areas)
Food microbiology
Biotechnology and industrial microbiology
Applied and environmental microbiology
The required courses are listed below. View the CASNR course catalog or the CAS course catalog for complete descriptions of all classes for the microbiology major.
Required Courses
College Integrative Course (CASNR only)
SCIL 101 Science & Decision Making for a Complex World
Required Microbiology Courses
MBIO 101 Introduction to the Microbiology Major (1 cr)
BIOS 312 Microbiology (3 cr)
BIOS 314 Microbiology Lab (1 cr)
MBIO 420 or MBIO 418 Molecular Genetics or Microbial Genetic & Genomics (3 cr)
MBIO 440 Microbial Physiology (BIOS 440)
One advanced microbiology course from the following
FDST 405 (BIOS 445) & FDST 406 - Food Microbiology & Food Microbiology Lab (5 cr)
FDST 455 & FDST 455L - Microbiology of Fermented Food & Microbiology of Fermented Food Lab (3 cr)
BIOS 369 / PLPT 400 & PLPT 400L - PLPT Intermediate Plant Pathology & Intermediate Plant Pathology Lab (4 cr)
MBIO 498 - Microbiology Independent Research (3 cr)
Required General Life Sciences Courses
LIFE 120 Fundamentals of Biology I (3 cr)
LIFE 120L Fundamentals of Biology I Lab (1 cr)
LIFE 121 Fundamentals of Biology II (3 cr)
LIFE 121L Fundamentals of Biology II Lab (1 cr)
BIOS 206 General Genetics (4 cr)
Ancillary Requirements
Mathematics and Statistics
MATH 106 Calculus I (5 cr)
Select one of the following
ECON 215 Statistics (3 cr)
EDPS 459 Statistical Methods (3 cr)
STAT 218 Introduction to Statistics (3 cr)
STAT 380 Statistics and Applications (3 cr)
Chemistry
CHEM 109A & CHEM 109L General Chemistry I and General Chemistry I Laboratory (4 cr)
and CHEM 110A & CHEM 110L General Chemistry II and General Chemistry II Laboratory II (4 cr)
or
CHEM 113A & CHEM 113L Fundamental Chemistry I & Fundamental Chemistry I Laboratory (4 cr)
and CHEM 114 Fundamental Chemistry II
and CHEM 221A & CHEM 221L Elementary Quantitative Analysis & Elementary Quantitative Analysis Lab (4 cr)
Organic Chemistry
If you plan to take BIOC 401 and BIOC 401L, select one sequence from:
CHEM 251 & CHEM 253 Organic Chemistry I & Organic Chemistry I Lab (4 cr)
and CHEM 252 & CHEM 263 Mechanistic Organic Chemistry & Lab (4 cr)
If you plan to take BIOC 431, select one sequence from the following
CHEM 251 & CHEM 253 Organic Chemistry I & Lab & CHEM 252 Organic Chemistry I
and CHEM 252 and Organic Chemistry II (3 cr)
CHEM 261 & CHEM 263 Mechanistic Organic Chemistry I & Lab (5 cr)
& CHEM 262 Organic Chemistry II (3 cr)
Biological Chemistry
Select one of the following
BIOC 401 & BIOC 401L Elements of Biochemistry & Lab (4 cr)
or
BIOC 431 Biomolecules and Metabolism (BIOS 431, CHEM 431) (3 cr)
Physics
Select one course from the following
PHYS 141 & PHYS 142 Physics for Life Sciences I (5 cr)
and PHYS 142 Physics for Life Sciences II (5 cr)
or
PHYS 211 & PHYS 221 General Physics I & Lab (5 cr)
and PHYS 212 & PHYS 222 General Physics II & Lab (5 cr)
Computational Approaches
Select one course from the following
CSCE 155T Computer Science I: Informatics Focus (3 cr)
BIOC 442 / STAT 442 Computational Biology (3 cr)
BIOC 439 Dynamics of Biochemical & Biological Networks (3 cr)
BIOC 437 Research Techniques in Biochemistry (BIOS 437) (4 cr)
BIOS 337 Applications of Bioinformatics (4 cr)
BIOS 456 Mathematical Models in Biology* (3 cr)
BIOS 477 Bioinformatics & Molecular Evolution (3 cr)
BIOS 429 Phylogenetics* (4 cr)
*Prerequisites not accounted for in the major.
Elective Courses
Select a minimum of 3 hours from each elective group below to total 12 hours
Microbiology Elective Group - Microbial Diversity and Ecology (Must take at least one of the following)
AGRO 460 - Soil Microbiology (BIOS 460, NRES 460, SOIL 460) (3 cr)
BIOS 444 / GEOL 444 - Earth & Environmental Microbiology (GEOL 444) (3 cr)
MBIO 421 / BIOS 421 - Microbial Diversity (3 cr)
FDST 442 - My Gut, My Health, My Food (3 cr)
Microbiology Elective Group - Microbe Host Interactions (Must take at least one of the following)
MBIO 443 - Immunology (BIOS 443) (3 cr)
BIOS 402 - Cancer Biology (3 cr)
BIOS 441 - Pathogenic Microbiology (VBMS 441 VBMS 441H) (3 cr)
BIOS 452 - Field Epidemiology (4 cr)
VBMS 303 - Principles and Prevention of Livestock Diseases (3 cr)
VBMS 408 - Functional Histology (BIOS 408) (4 cr)
VBMS 424 - Basic Molecular Infectious Diseases (3 cr)
BIOS 435 - Evolutionary Medicine (3 cr)
PLPT 400 / PLPT 400L - Intermediate Plant Pathology (BIOS 369 / PLPT 400) & PLPT 400L (4 cr)
NRES 425 - Wildlife Health (3 cr)
Microbiology Elective Group - Organismal Microbiology (Must take at least one of the following)
BIOS 302 - Cell Biology (3 cr)
FDST 415 - Food Mycology (3 cr)
BIOS 326 - Biology of Viruses (3 cr)
BIOS 385 - Parasitology (4 cr)
BIOS 487 - Field Parasitology (4 cr)
BIOS 426 - Systems Biology (3 cr)
BIOC 432 / BIOS 432 / CHEM 432 - Biochemistry II: Metabolism & Biological Information (3 cr)