Upon successful completion of the course, the student will have acquired the appropriate knowledge and skills such as the importance of microorganisms for the environment, food production, agriculture, energy production, human health, the biology of the microbial cell (structure and function) both prokaryotic (bacteria and archaea) and eukaryotic (protozoa, yeasts, fungi), observe microorganisms under the microscope (preparation of a preparation, staining, microscopy), know the nutrition of microbial cells, how a microbial culture is created in the laboratory (nutrients, sterilization, inoculation, incubation) and how it is kept pure (aseptic conditions), know how to estimate the population of a microbial culture in the laboratory and have an understanding of the growth curve of a microorganism in a closed culture system. Also, have an understanding of how the main environmental factors (e.g. temperature, pH, water activity, oxygen) and chemical factors (antibiotics, antiseptics, disinfectants) affect microbial growth, what tools are used to study phylogenetic relationships between microorganisms and what these relationships are.