To the Marina of Steubenville!

To the Marina of Steubenville

Class: Thursday, August 29, 2013

Today was just another boring day of lab. Nope! No such thing with this professor!

First, we checked out our fingerprint agar plates, pre-handwashing and post-handwashing. Here are the results!

Sierra and Juliet's bacterial growth from fingerprints before and after washing hands

Before washing our hands, Juliet and I had only a few spots of bacteria.  Yet interestingly enough, afterward washing our hands, we both had more bacteria growing on the agar plate.  Why? A potential hypothesis is perhaps the paper towels not being as sanitary as we thought.




As we discussed where we would collect a sample of bacteria to grow on our newly, personally-made nutrient agar petri dishes, Dr. Pathakamuri suggested that we go to the Ohio River.  There would be plenty to sample there and plus we could firsthand experience the musty, filthy waters of the river. So off we went!

Collecting samples at the Marina

After some exploring, our group sampled two subjects: the Steubenville air, as well as a fishing boat.

Juliet collecting Steubenville air sample

To collect a sample of the microbes present in the air, Juliet wonderfully waved and danced about with the petri dish, with the lid off.

Swabbing the boat

Next, we swabbed the side of a man's fishing boat.














It was an adventure! And we are all rather curious as to what exactly will grow in our cultures...

Medical Microbiology Class!

Learning Sterilization Techniques

Learning Sterilization Techniques

Class: Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Today was our first day of microbiology lab! We learned proper sterile techniques in conducting ourselves, our lab stations, our lab equipment, as well as actual experiments.

Juliet wearing her lab coat and practicing proper sterile technique

It begins with the classy, new, starch white lab coats: to stop any microbes from coming in, we wear lab coats.  After the class is over, as we exit, we take off our coats to prevent any spread of microbes back into the environment we came from.

Before we did anything else, we pressed a unwashed finger onto an agar plate, then washed our hands, and pressed the same washed finger onto a different section of the plate. Then we placed the agar plates into the incubator at room temperature to grow the bacteria.






To prepare for the day's experiments, we then sterilized our lab station with 2% Lysol.

Sterilizing the inoculating loop

During this class, we learned how to properly sterilize an inoculating loop, using the blue flame of a bunsen burner.
The metal turns orange as it is heated.  This is necessary in order to kill any microbes to prevent contamination.

Removing the cap while holding the inoculating loop

We also learned the importance of heating the lip of the glass test tube, to prevent any contamination as well.  In order to do this, you must use one hand to hold the test tube, and the other hand holds the inoculating loop as well as the cap of the test tube.

Inserting the inoculating loop into the broth culture

Sterilizing inoculating loop

After each removal of the test tube cap or use of the loop, it must be heated and sterilized.


So why all this stress on heating and sterilizing? It is necessary to prevent contamination.  If contamination occurs, then the result of your experiment will be altered and inaccurate.

Pouring nutrient agar into plates

Next, we learned how to make nutrient agar to pour into plates, for bacterial culture growth. After weighing the correct about of nutrient agar powder (which comes from cows) we added it to boiling water.  It was then in high heat for fifteen minutes in the autoclave. After it finished, we poured the sterile agar into the plates, to be used for our next lab class.