Elective Years 3 and 4: Research Medical Microbiology

The student in consultation with a medical microbiology supervisor, will choose a short mutually agreeable research project. The project would usually fall into one of these areas: basic research into pathogenic organisms or disease processes, clinical research into improving the information provided to clinicians by the laboratory, or research into improving diagnostic capabilities in the laboratory. The considerable resources of the University of Alberta Hospital microbiology lab, Provincial Laboratory for Public Health, and the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology (MMI) are available for use. In addition to the skills necessary for the specific topic, students will be given instruction in properly framing a research question, searching the scientific literature, using computers as research tools (word processing, spreadsheets, online literature searches, graphing, statistic manipulation and databases).

Completing this elective should enable students to carry out a research project in basic, clinical or diagnostic microbiology under the supervision of a medical microbiologist. This introduction to the fundamental skills required in a research environment, will provide students with an indication of whether they would be happy pursuing a career in academic research, and serve as a sound base for further skill development.