Fundamental microbiological working methods

Principle

In order to prevent nutrient media and cultures from being contaminated with microorganisms that adhere to the working equipment, the equipment, nutrient media, and nutrient solutions must be sterilised. Petri dishes filled with a solidified nutrient medium are called plates in the specialised language of microbiologists. The nutrient medium is poured into the dishes either from test tubes, with one test tube holding the required quantity of ready-made medium for one Petri dish, or from Erlenmeyer flasks if a large number of plates needs to be prepared at the same time.

Benefits

• Experiment covers the basics of microbiology technics
• Experiment is the first in a series of complementary microbiology experiments
• Equipment of this experiment can also be used to perform the more advanced experiments

Tasks

1. Sterilisation of equipment
2. Preparation of standard nutrient agar for bacteria
3. Preparation of standard nutrient agar for moulds and yeasts
4. Preparation of a standard nutrient solution for bacteria
5. Preparation of slant agar tubes
6. Inoculation of microorganisms

Learning objectives

• Basics of microbiological work techniques
• Disinfection
• Nutrient agar
• Sterility
• Sterilisation
• Moulds
• Yeast
• Bacteria
• Inoculation