Courses for Secondary
Fulfilling the Secondary Requirements
Requirement 1 - Two MSI Cornerstone Courses
The following two courses are required.
- OEB290/MICROBI210 - Microbial Sciences: Chemistry, Ecology, and Evolution
- LIFESCI 100r - Experimental Research in Life Sciences
Requirement 2 - One Instroductory Course
Potential courses include, but are not limited to:
EPS
- 8 – History of the Earth
- 53 (formerly 186) - Low Temperature Geochemistry I: Intro to Biogeochemical Cycles
- 56 (aka OEB 56) - Geobiology and the History of Life Chem
- 27 – The Organic Chemistry of Life
LS
- 50 - Integrated Science
MCB
- 52 – Molecular Biology
- 60 - Cellular Biology and Molecular Medicine
OEB
- 10 – Foundations of Biological Diversity
- 50 – Genetics and Genomics
- 54 – Biology of the Fungi
- 55 – Ecology: Populations, Communities, and Ecosystems
- 56 (aka EPS 56) - Geobiology and the History of Life
Want to count a class that you don't see listed here? Send the syllabus and course description to MSI@fas.harvard.edu along with your request.
Requirement 3 - Two Advanced Courses
To complete the Microbial Sciences secondary requirement, you must take two additional microbe-related courses at or above the 100 level.
Please note that courses at the 200 level or above are intended primarily for graduate students but are often open to undergraduates with the necessary background/prerequisites. For courses above the 200 level, interested students should inquire in advance with the course director/faculty.
Potential courses include, but are not limited to:
BPH
- Some courses in BPH may be relevant, but these may only be taken by undergraduates with explicit instructor permission
BIOPHY
- 309 – Motile Behavior of Bacteria
- 314 – Structure of Viruses and Viral Proteins
- 346 – Biofilm Dynamics
EPS
- 181 – Historical Geobiology
- 187 – Biogeochemistry
- 189 – Analytics and Field Methods in Geobiology
- 286 - Current Topics in Biogeochemistry I
- 287 - Biogeochemistry
ENGSCI
- 222 - Advanced Cellular Engineering
IID
- 209 – Microbial Communities and the Human Microbiome
MICROBIO
- 201 - Molecular Biology of the Bacterial Cell
- 202 (formerly 214) - Mechanisms of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Host Immune Response
- 205 – Mechanisms of Microbial Pathogenesis
- 210 - Microbial Sciences: Chemistry, Ecology, and Evolution
- 213 - Social Issues in Biology
- 300 - Advanced Topics in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
- 302QC – Introduction to Infectious Disease Research
- 360 - Microbiome Seminar
LIFESCI
- 120
VIROLOGY
- 200 - Introduction to Virology
- 201 – Virology
MCB
- 111 - Mathematics in Biology
- 121 - The Microbes
- 165 - Interplay between Viruses and their Hosts
- 188 – Chromosomes
- 212 – Topics in Biophysics
- 291 – Genetics, Genomics, and Evolutionary Biology
OEB
- 107 - Evolution of Plant Life in Geologic Time
- 119 - Deep Sea Biology
- 125 - Molecular Ecology and Evolution
- 191 - Biochemical Adaptation
- 221 - Microbial Diversity
- 227 - Molecular Approaches to Environmental Microbiology
- 275R - Phylogenetics and Phylogeography in the Era of Genomic
- 277 - Topics in Symbiosis
SYSBIO
- 204 - Synthetic Biology: From Ideation to Commercialization
CHEM
- 171 – Biological Synthesis