Category: Agar Plates
Meet a Microbiologist: Tasha Sturm Turns Microbial Contaminants into Art
Noodlococcus and The Beautiful World of Bacterial Contaminants
Can You Use a Pressure Cooker as an Autoclave? Science Says Sure, in Some Situations
I clearly remember my high school science teacher running across the room with a pressure cooker in hand making a beeline to the sink. After some sizzling when cold water hits its hot surface, my teacher finally opened it. What were we up to? Making agar plates of course!
Years later, research published in PLoS One puts the pressure cooker to a test: can these tools be used for sterilization when a steam autoclave is not available? (more…)
Fanny Hesse, the Woman Who Introduced Agar to Microbiology
Cultivating microorganisms in the lab has not always been what it is now. Thanks to Angelina Fanny Hesse (1850-1934), microbiologists now have a solid medium to grow microbes in the lab.
Before Hesse stepped onto the scene, bacteriologists were cultivating microorganisms on an assortment of food – potato, coagulated egg whites, and meat. In 1819, an epidemic of “bloody bread” broke out in Padua, Italy. The Venetian pharmacist Bartolomeo Bizio isolated the culprit on polenta and called it Serratia marcescens. Then in 1872, Joseph Schroeter published a paper demonstrating the separation of bacteria of different colors on cooked potatoes. Like Bizio’s experiments, Schroeter was able to transfer the microorganisms to fresh media over and over. (more…)