Biology - Microbiology Track, BS
Introduction
The Microbiology Track studies organisms that, for the most part, are not easily visible with the naked eye, including algae, archaea, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses. Microbes are notorious for causing disease, but microbes also play critical roles in maintaining human health and supporting life on Earth. In the Microbiology track, you will explore microbes in the context of medicine, molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, immunology, biotechnology, ecology, and evolution. The Microbiology track prepares students for careers in many fields including medicine, agriculture, public health, government, environmental science, basic research, education, industrial microbiology, food microbiology, and pharmaceuticals.
Program Delivery
- This is an on-campus program.
Declaring This Major
- Click here to go to information about declaring a major.
General Requirements
To earn a degree, students must satisfy all requirements in each of the three areas below, in addition to their individual major requirements.
- CU Denver General Graduation Requirements
- CU Denver Core Curriculum
- College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Graduation Requirements
- Click here for information about Academic Policies
Program Requirements
- Students must complete a minimum of 36 BIOL credit hours.
- Students must complete a minimum of 15 credit hours in ancillary coursework.
- Students must complete a minimum of 18 upper division (3000- level and above) BIOL credit hours.
- Students must earn a minimum grade of C- (1.7) in all courses that apply to the major and must achieve a minimum cumulative major GPA of 2.0. Courses taken using P+/P/F or S/U grading cannot apply to major requirements.
- Students must complete a minimum of 18 upper division (3000-level and above) BIOL credit hours with CU Denver faculty and at least 3 credits must be at 4000-level or higher.
Program Restrictions, Allowances and Recommendations
- Courses more than ten years old will not count automatically, but can be evaluated individually for their current relevance to the degree program through a petition process with the Department of Integrative Biology Curriculum Committee. Approval for courses older than ten years is not guaranteed so students may be required to update their knowledge by taking additional courses when past courses are outdated.
- Undergraduate students may count up to six credit hours of independent study or internship (any combination of BIOL 3840 Independent Study, BIOL 3939 Internship, BIOL 4840 Independent Study, BIOL 4880 Directed Research) toward the upper-division Biology electives requirement in the major.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Complete the following required biology courses: | ||
| BIOL 2010 | Organisms to Ecosystems (Gen Bio) | 3 |
| or BIOL 2030 | Honors Organisms to Ecosystems (Gen Bio) | |
| BIOL 2011 | Organisms to Ecosystems Lab (Gen Bio) | 1 |
| or BIOL 2031 | Honors Organisms to Ecosystems Lab (Gen Bio) | |
| BIOL 2020 | Molecules to Cells (Gen Bio) | 3 |
| or BIOL 2040 | Honors Molecules to Cells (Gen Bio) | |
| BIOL 2021 | Molecules to Cells Lab (Gen Bio) | 1 |
| or BIOL 2041 | Honors Molecules to Cells Lab (Gen Bio) | |
| BIOL 3650 | General Microbiology | 3 |
| BIOL 3651 | General Microbiology Lab | 2 |
| BIOL 3832 | General Genetics | 3 |
| or BIOL 3124 | Introduction to Molecular Biology | |
| Complete the following required ancillary classes: | ||
| CHEM 2031 | General Chemistry I | 3 |
| or CHEM 2081 | Honors General Chemistry I | |
| CHEM 2038 | General Chemistry Laboratory I | 1 |
| or CHEM 2039 | Majors General Chemistry I Laboratory | |
| or CHEM 2088 | Honors General Chemistry I Laboratory | |
| CHEM 2061 | General Chemistry II | 3 |
| or CHEM 2091 | Honors General Chemistry II Lecture | |
| CHEM 2068 | General Chemistry Laboratory II | 2 |
| or CHEM 2069 | Majors General Chemistry II Laboratory | |
| or CHEM 2098 | Honors General Chemistry II Laboratory | |
| Choose one quantitative class from this list: | 3-4 | |
| Biostatistics | ||
| Calculus I | ||
| Applied Statistics | ||
| Choose one writing intensive class from this list: | 3 | |
| Rhetorics of Medicine & Health | ||
| Technical Writing (also satisfies CLAS Communicative Skills requirement) | ||
| Writing in the Sciences (also satisfies CLAS Communicative Skills requirement) | ||
| Argumentation and Logic (also satisfies CLAS Humanities requirement) | ||
| Proposal and Grant Writing (also satisfies CLAS Humanities requirement) | ||
| Choose at least nine credits of upper division microbiology courses from the following list (must include at least one BIOL 4000 level class taught by UCD faculty): | 9 | |
| Parasitology | ||
| Introduction to Immunology | ||
| Virology | ||
| Medical Microbiology | ||
| Microbial Genomics | ||
| Applied Microbial Ecology | ||
| Choose at least 11 credits of other BIOL electives from the following list (not already taken anywhere above) to reach 36 credits in BIOL: | 11 | |
| Biology Career and Professional Development Seminar | ||
| Practical Laboratory Skills | ||
| Introduction to Molecular Biology | ||
| Advanced Topics | ||
| Advanced Special Topics with Lab | ||
| Principles of Ecology | ||
| Introduction to Evolution | ||
| Parasitology | ||
| General Cell Biology | ||
| Cell Biology Laboratory | ||
| Introduction to Immunology | ||
| General Genetics | ||
| Internship (Project must have a microbiology component) | ||
| Independent Study (Project must have a microbiology component) | ||
| Introduction to Biotechnology | ||
| Advanced Biology Topics | ||
| Infectious Disease Ecology | ||
| Virology | ||
| Cell Biology of Disease | ||
| Molecular Biology Laboratory | ||
| Molecular Genetics | ||
| Genomics and Bioinformatics | ||
| Topics in Molecular Biology | ||
| Medical Microbiology | ||
| Microbial Genomics | ||
| Applied Microbial Ecology | ||
| Environmental Toxicology | ||
| Topics in Immunology | ||
| Independent Study (Project must have a microbiology component) | ||
| Directed Research (Project must have a microbiology component ) | ||
| Total Hours | 51-52 | |
To learn more about the Student Learning Outcomes for this program, please visit our website.
To review the Degree Map for this program, please visit our website.