Impossible to be a vegan Microbiologist?

I've been vegan for four years. I'm a senior in college and I'm applying to phd programs in microbiology. I'm interested in studying how the human microbiome affects health and disease, and I currently work in the molecular biology department at my school. The lab I work in now strictly works with bacteria, and no animals are harmed or involved. However, that is somewhat of an anomaly, because most microbiology labs use mice and rats as model organisms. This means tons of animals are being bred to live in tiny cages and have experiments done on them, then are killed in order for scientists to study their gut microbiota. Although I don't do that now, the specific area of this field I'm interested uses them all the time. Plus, many compounds we use in the lab for media preparation and other experimental techniques are derived from animals. Am I a bad vegan if this becomes my career? I believe that the scientific advances that are made in the field of microbiology will and have helped humans and other animals immensely, but this is a pretty glaring conflict in my morals. Thoughts?