Pocket Culturing

An idea for a demonstration to be done by instructor to set up motivation for aseptic technique, pointing out that we are normally surrounded by bacteria, and the role of phage in our environment (in regulating bacterial numbers).

A section of a dollar bill was lightly pressed against a plate's LB-agarose for 90 s.

The dollar is then washed and dried and the plate examined after a day or more.

The plate edge should be wrapped in parafilm, not opened (do not expose yourself or others to amplified numbers of unknown bacteria), and then autoclaved when finished.

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  $1 on a plate

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  One Day Later

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  Two Days Later

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  One Week Later, Stored at 4 C

After two days it was stored for the remainder of the week at 4 C. Incubating overnight then storing at 4 C until the following class day would probably work well in a classroom.

Notes

I also tried wiping a cell phone with a kimwipe and plating that but it didn't show any colonies.

What Links Here

• SEA-PHAGES ‎ (← links)