The growing field of microbiology offers a pool of career avenues for aspirants

Given the growth forecasts, this coming decade will mark phenomenal growth for health sciences, which is going to become a high demand, high reward industry. This means that there is a need for higher educational institutions to reinvent the education-to-employment structure and produce professionals with the required skills and credentials for the challenging health sciences careers of the 21st century.

The health sector, in the current scenario, is heavily dependent on microorganisms for conducting research and developing newer drug types and antibiotics. In line with this, Microbiology as a discipline is in high demand and is emerging as one of the most sought after careers for students pursuing health sciences. It is a broad discipline of Biology that works with the structure, function, uses and existence of microscopic organisms. Microbiologists are needed to research and develop new medicines and treatments, such as vaccines and antibiotics. In addition, they also help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to develop drugs that are produced with the aid of microorganisms.

A career in microbiology can be a lucrative option in India as well as abroad. What further increases the scope of this field is the involvement of microbiology in various fields such as Pharmacy, Medicine, Clinical Research, Agriculture, Dairy Industry, Water Industry, Nanotechnology, Chemical Technology to name a few. Moreover, as per industry reports, the employment of microbiologists is projected to grow three percent over the next ten years, about as fast as the average for all occupations.

Note: The views expressed in this article are that of University of Petroleum and Energy Studies [UPES] and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha