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Microbiologists
investigate the growth, structure, development, and other characteristics of microscopic organisms, such as bacteria, algae, or fungi. Includes medical microbiologists who study the relationship between organisms and disease or the effects of antibiotics on microorganisms.
The Thinker
My name is Daniela and I’m a clinical licensed scientist that works in both Microbiology and Molecular genetics.
Being a licensed scientist allows me to work in ANY type of laboratory in the United States. I can work in pharmaceutical companies, research, clinical and more!
In the clinical laboratory, my responsibilities are to detect, isolate, and identify infectious diseases caused by microorganisms. I will also do readings of cultures and gram stains on blood, respiratory, tissues, sterile, and non-sterile body fluids. Once I know the type of bacterial organism is causing an infection for a patient I will perform and read susceptibility testing by using Kirby-Bauer, E-Test, and/ or Vitek and MicroScan. These testings will help determine which drugs are most effective to treat infections. Once results are ready, they are input into a laboratory information system also known as LIS. It’s where all testing results are located for your doctor to see. From there, the results contain the name(s) of the bacterial infection and which drug(s) will perform the best. Doctors then factor in patients’ history and any drug interactions and prescribe antibiotics from our findings.
It’s always a busy day. I’m not just a microbiologist, I have to maintain instruments just like how a mechanic has to change a car’s oil. If an instrument goes down, it can delay the resulting outcome. We have to be mindful of any extreme temperature changes because this can affect how the instrument functions. We now have to factor in a pandemic and this uses a lot of our resources and staff. So instead of being only responsible for our typical microbiology day in the lab, we have to focus on how to keep the laboratory running to serve our patients and SARS-CoV-2. It is a very exhausting year, some days are good, other days we have to help each other push through it.
