First day of lab we learned all the how-to's of a Microbiology lab. This included how to come into lab, how to clean your station, where to store materials, and the basic instruments used in this course. One of which is an Agar Plate. An Agar plate is the medium we typically will use to prepare and grow our bacteria. Nutrient Agar and Nutrient broth are two of the substances involved in the composition of the contents of the plate.
The Nutrient Agar is the jelly like substance that the bacteria grows on, while the Nutrient Broth is the "food" or nutrients needed by the bacteria for it to grow efficiently.
Our first experiment in lab was testing the amount of bacteria on our hands before and after we washed them. We divided an Agar plate into four quadrants and thumb printed our unwashed hands into quadrants one and two. After washing our hands we thumb printed our thumbs into quadrants three and four. We placed the dish into the incubator. Coming back the next day we saw the results! In Grace's quadrants (1,3) you could tell the bacteria significantly decreased. In Christina's quadrants (2,4) the bacteria stayed the same indicating she did not properly wash her hands!!!
Today we learned about the aseptic technique. In lecture we learned this technique was developed by Joseph Lister. The technique is as follows:
1) Sterilize the inoculating loop in the outermost flame of the Bunsen burner.
2) Sterilize the edge of the test tube containing the bacteria.
3) Dip the inoculating loop into the test tube and retrieve a loop full of bacteria.
4) Before closing the test tube, sterilize it again.
5) Open the new test tube and sterilize it.
6) Place the loop full of bacteria into the second test tube.
7) Before closing once again sterilize the edge of the test tube.
8) Sterilize the inoculating loop and you have just successfully preformed the aseptic technique!
Next we learned how to prepare a streak plate. Streak plates are used to isolate bacteria as a pure culture. In using streak plates bacteria is diluted with an inoculating loop as the cells are spread over the surface of an Agar plate. The procedure is as follows:
Note: Perform the Aseptic technique throughout the experiment so there is no contamination of bacteria.
1) Obtain a loop full of the unknown bacterial sample given to us by Dr. P.
2) Streak the bacteria onto the Agar plate according to the diagram drawn.
3) Between each set of streaks sterilize the loop in the Bunsen burner, wait 20 seconds after sterilizing to let it cool down before continuing.
4) Place plate in the incubator (37 degrees C).
We then learned how to prepare a slant tube of bacteria and a broth culture.
Note: Perform the Aseptic technique throughout the experiment so there is no contamination of bacteria.
1) Obtain from Dr. P a tube that has been prepared in the slant method, and a test tube of broth.
2) This process is very similar to when we learned the Aseptic technique. The loop full of our bacteria sample is placed into the broth in order to grow a larger colony of bacteria
3) For the slant method, place the loop of the bacteria sample into the slant tube, and streak it in a zig zag pattern as we performed in the streak Agar plate.
4) Place both tubes into the 37 degree C incubator.
This concludes our experiments for the first two days of lab!
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