Learning How to Use an Inoculation Loop

Wednesday May 30, 2018

This week the group participated in various experiments, which allowed us to become comfortable with different techniques and tools that we will be using for our experiment. The knowledge we gained from one recent experiment, taught us how to collect different specimens and microorganisms from different areas. Some places the group took cultures of includes, the bottom of a shoe, a phone button, an eraser, a keyboard, and a hand dryer.

This was done by using an inoculation loop and smearing it over a surface. The inoculation loop allows individuals to retrieve an inoculum from a culture of microorganisms. For example, one group member took an inoculation loop and smeared it over the bottom of a shoe. Once the sample was retrieved, the group used the same loop and smeared the collection on top of media. Culture medium is a liquid or solid that is designed to support microorganism growth. In this experiment, the media used was TSA, also known as Trypticase soy agar. Trypticase soy is a liquid media and once agar was added it allowed the liquid media to solidify. Once the group was finished spreading the collection of microorganisms over the media, all plates were labeled and placed into an incubator. The incubator was set at 37 °C which allows for the bacteria to grow and become visible to the human eye. Each plate was left in the incubator overnight.

The next morning, the group was able to examine the different colonies of bacteria that was produced. Each member completed 2-3 cultures and some created visible colonies while others did not. In the near future, we hope to learn how to count the colonies created by each collection, which will allow us to further each experiment.

This is a collection being taken from the an air vent found in the school. Which was done by placing it over the vent for 30 seconds.

This is a collection being taken from an hand dryer by placing it under the dryer for one minute.

These are the various collections taken by the group before they were put in the incubator.

This is the collection of bacteria from the hand dryer after it was inoculated. A minimum amount of colonies can be observed which suggests that it could have stayed in the incubator longer so the bacteria could grow more or not a lot of bacteria was present.

This is the collection of bacteria from the bottom of a shoe after it was inoculated.Various amount of colonies can be observed which suggests that a lot of bacteria is present at the bottom of a shoe. As well as, if it was left in the incubator longer more bacteria could have been observed.

This is the collection of bacteria from the keyboard after it was inoculated. A minimum amount of colonies can be observed which suggests that it could have stayed in the incubator longer so the bacteria could grow more or not a lot of bacteria was present.