Exercise No.

1
Demonstration of Tools Used in Microbiology

Introduction:
A laboratory is a place that offers opportunities for observation, practice, and
experimentation. Different instruments in the laboratory have their own uses and functions; the
purpose of this experiment is to help us determine the proper manner in using these equipments
and how to handle them to avoid breakages, wastage and inaccurate laboratory results. The
Laboratory Safety Rules is usually displayed in the laboratory or is explained by the Laboratory
Instructor. We must follow these rules to avoid minor accidents and health risking factors that
could greatly affect us.
Materials and Methods:
1. Alcohol lamp
2. Autoclave
3. Autoclavable test tube rack
4. Bent Glass Rod
5. Caliper
6. Candle jar
7. Durham fermentation tube
8. Erlenmeyer Flask
9. Forceps
10. Glass slides (plain and hanging drop) and cover slip
11. Gas pack
12. Hot air oven sterilizer
13. Incubator
14. Inoculating loop (disposable & nichrome)
15. Inoculating needle
16. Inoculating loop and needle sterilizer
17. Low Density Polythelyne Plastic (LDPE-4) / Biohazard autoclavable plastic
18. Brightfield microscope
19. Petri dish and Petri plate
20. Spatula (Porcelain and stainless)
21. Straining tray
22. Swab stick
23. Tally counter
24. Test tubes: with screw cap and cotton plug
25. Triple beam balance and/or Top loading balance
Procedure:
1. Become familiar with the different apparatus/instrument listed in the previous section.
2. Correletae the appearance with the name and function of each apparatus/instrument.
Answers to Questions for Research:
What is/are the specific use/s of the following:





Alcohol lamp
o The alcohol lamp is used for heating the inoculating loop/needle for it to be sterile
before transfer of bacteria






Autoclave
o Is an instrument used to sterilize equipment and supplies by subjecting them to high
pressure saturated steam at 121 C for around 1520 minutes depending on the size
of the load and the contents.




Autoclavable test tube rack
o This test tube rack could be placed inside an autoclave without any effect on the
heat/pressure that is emitted. This is also used to hold liquid culture media and
other chemicals used in the laboratory.







Bent glass rod
o It is used in spreading the culture media in a plate




Caliper
o This is used to measure the zone of inhibition of your culture media.



Candle jar
o Used for anaerobiosis; a lit candle was placed in as air-tight jar such that when it
went out it would be because it used up all the available oxygen.





Durham fermentation tubes
o An inverted glass tube in bacterial carbohydrate fermentation tests.
o Used to detect gas production.






Erlenmeyer Flask
o Erlenmeyer flasks are used to measure, mix, and store liquids. The shape makes this
flask very stable. They are one of the most common and useful pieces of chemistry
lab glassware.
o Most erlenmeyer flasks are made of borosilicate glass so that they can be heated
over a flame or autoclaved.
o The most common sizes of erlenmeyer flasks probably are 250 ml and 500 ml. They
can be found in 50, 125, 250, 500, 1000 ml.
o You can seal them with a cork or stopper or place plastic or paraffin film or a watch
glass on top of them.




Forceps
o An instrument resembling a pair of pincers or tongs, used for grasping,
manipulating, or extracting





Glass Slides (plain and hanging drop) and cover slip
o Plain Glass Slides
Used for observing the specimens morphological traits
o Hanging Drop Glass Slides
Used for observing the specimens motility
o Cover Slip
Used for covering the specimen on your glass slide







Gas pack
o Is a method used in production of an anaerobic environment. It is used to culture
bacteria which die or fail to grow in presence of oxygen (anaerobes).






Hot air oven sterilizer
o Used to sterilize glass wares.






Incubator
o For culture media and/or inoculum, bacterial growth







Inoculating loop (disposable & nichrome)
o Is a simple tool used mainly by microbiologists to retrieve an inoculum from
a culture of microorganisms. The loop is used in the cultivation of microbes on
plates by transferring inoculum for streaking.




Inoculating needle
o A device used in Microbiological experiments. It is a needle made up of nichrome
wire with a handle at the other end.





Needle sterilizer
o Used to sterilize the inoculating loop and needle.

Low density Polyethylene plastic (LDPE 4)
o Can resist the heat of the autoclave and is used for autoclaving petri dishes.








Brightfield Microscope
o An optical instrument that uses a lens or a combination of lenses to produce
magnified images of small objects, especially of objects too small to be seen by the
unaided eye.




Petri dish and Petri plate
o This serves as a home for your culture media during growth.






Spatula (Porcelain & Stainless)
o a wide, flat, blunt, usually flexible instrument of little thickness, used for spreading
material on a smooth surface or mixing.









Staining tray
o Helps in staining many slides at a time, when we put numerous slides on a rack we
can pour dye simultaneously on all the slides and it will also help in reducing loss of
extra dye or stain.





Swab Stick
o Used to get a sample of a bacteria.





Tally Counter
o Used in bacterial counting.




Test tubes: with screw cap and with cotton plug
o Used to contain liquid media.







Triple beam balance and/or top loading balance
o A type of scale commonly used in the laboratory to determine the mass (by weight
comparison) of samples. To use the balance, you use sliding weights called riders on
three beams, each with progressively small incremental amounts.

Update:
Kiestra Lab Automation: New Advanced Technologies in Microbiology
Diagnostics
In the good old days, the microbiology laboratory used to be a labor intensive place equipped with
incubators and microscopes. Microbiologists were patient scientists waiting at least 24 hours before
their isolated cultures were grown enough for identification. Today, laboratory medicine is developing
at a rapid pace and the microbiology lab is having its own evolution going on. Lab automation is
emerging and processes are done faster than ever with more standardized and comparable tests.
Samples are barcoded before they enter a string of analyzers measuring mass spectra, fluorescence and
specific DNA sequences. Almost all serology tests run in multiplex (simultaneously measure multiple
analytes) and high throughput machines that can produce about 1000 results in an hour. These are
intelligent machines that can automatically expand tests depending on earlier results, for example
repeat, reflex or add-on extra tests.
One of the companies involved in this laboratory revolution is Kiestra lab automation BV based in the
Netherlands. They created a system to cover the whole process from inoculation to identification
automatically.
Their slogan Its the sample that moves!
involves many features. The system starts with
the InoqulA, a full automatic inoculation
machine, in which any fluid specimen will
automatically be opened-inoculated-spread-
sorted and transported to the incubators. This
can be done at a high through-put rate of up to
400 inoculations per hour. It uses a new
technology with magnetic rolling beads to streak
the plates, this creates enough single colonies in various specified directions.
Your preferred identification and susceptibility methodology ( e.g. biochemical, Malditof, disc diffusion,
etc. ) can be integrated within the system. A monitor dashboard can be installed in the laboratory in
order to optimize workload management. In a blink of the eye each supervisor can see how many digital
reads have to be done at which hour.
In order to create a 24/7 non stop laboratory, incubation, processing and digital imaging is performed
non-stop day and night. Having digital images of each culture makes it possible to view them
remotely. The use of smart-phones within bacteriology comes within reach: the ReadA Browser on the
iPhone makes it possible to check your cultures from just about anywhere.

Personal Opinion/Insight:

The new technological equipments or automations made for Microbiology had made the
work faster and easier and there is less contact with the microbes that may cause disease to the
Medical Technologist but despite this advantage, it also has its disadvantages. First is the
Systematic Error where in the device may malfunction which may give a wrong information to the
patient or physician. Second is that a work seen by the naked eye of a Medical technologist is much
more trustworthy than that done and processed by a machine and lastly, the automation is very
much expensive which is not suitable not only to the public hospitals but also to the patients who
are less fortunate.








References:
http://www.medgadget.com/2011/11/kiestra-lab-automation-new-advanced-technologies-in-
microbiology-diagnostics.html
http://dmcampus.webs.com/documents/lab%20equipment%20study.pdf