Within the science of living organisms come the studies of bacteriology, cytology, histology and genetics to name a few. All of these use an electron microscope to further its research into its field.
A general study that uses an electron microscope is microbiology, and the findings from this goes on help medicine with applications in biotechnology helping to produce antibiotics, vitamins, metals, and proteins industrially.
Bacteriology, the study of bacteria, uses an electron microscope to visualise viruses and then tries to determine what causes disease. Samples of skin can be taken from people and studied with an electron microscope, known as biopsies, to find diseases such as cancer. And as the electron microscope has improved, so has the health of the world’s population with diseases being diagnosed faster and more medicines and cures being made. Immunology and virology are other sciences linked with this.
Cytology, study of cells and their components uses the electron microscope to see entire structures or systems. Great developments, in this field, have been made due to the electron microscope. Morphology is similar to this study also.
Another science, genetics, has made great leaps and bounds in its findings thanks to the electron microscope. Diseases can now be seen if they derive from the genes of a person, and also the structure and arrangement of chromosomes and DNA can be seen in clear detail.
Histology is the microscopic study of animal and plant cells, helping us learn more about what they are made from, what they do, how they do it and how they live and eventually, die.
The study of plants, botany, has been aided with the electron microscope by botanists being able to find out more about ecology and therefore helping improve agriculture and horticulture.
Along with the above, the electron microscope is used in the study of many elements, for example crystallography, metallography and metallurgy.
The study of crystals looks at the actual arrangements of atoms in crystals, which in turn looks at the arrangement of atoms and molecules in many more substances and elements.
Metallography looks at the crystalline structure of metals and their alloys. This links to metallurgy, the science and art of adapting and processing metals to satisfy human demand. With the electron microscope, it can see defects caused and therefore repair and restore them to be the best for human consumption.
