Agar plates

This is a thread about all kinds of crazy or amazing stuff grown in a agar plates or other growth mediums like stem cells under a microscope,bacteria in agar plates and other findings. So feel free to post some pictures and other findings and so on. But don't just copy images from Google or other image search engines and say that you did that Or you will be banned.

> Or you will be banned.

Now you now people will post nothing but pictures from google!

I know I'm certainly tempted to, just out of principle and sheer contrariness.

I had my microbiology class in the spring semester, and only took a few pictures, so I won't have anything interesting to share until I start my internship. Still, fell free to enjoy the two pictures I did take in class.

(Nothing too interesting growing there, just old Klebsiella Oxytoca)

Would that be bacteria growth slides? I saw some of those last night in this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07hx40t/inside-porton-down-britains-secret-weapons-research-facility?suggid=b07hx40t

They showed how anthrax grows. That stuff was scary to watch. The replication looked horrifying.

P.S this thread is a prank

Tam, they are bacterial agars, which if you're not familiar with them, are a controlled environment that lets you grow, nourish and analyze bacteria, especially if it's a specimen taken from a patient, in which case you're trying to figure out what it is so it can be treated. In my course we were generally rubbing the top of those agars with a swab. On Tuesday you wouldn't be able to see anything there, you might as well have just brushed the top of the agar with water. By Thursday... well, you can see how much has growth has happened by that point. (Fun/scary fact: some bacteria can create a new generation in as little as 15-20 minutes. If you've ever wondered why bacterial resistance to drugs comes about and why it's such a pain in the ass for medical folks, just think about the potential for genetic mutation and adaptation that goes along with spawning a new generation that quickly versus the years of study and trials and testing it takes to develop a working drug.)

As I mentioned, that particular type of bacteria is Klebsiella Oxytoca, a normal bacteria found in the gastrointestinal tract. It's only pathogenic under a few circumstances, mostly involving the person having a compromised immune system or being exposed to medical staff/instruments contaminated with it. (It's a bitch and a half to treat if you do get infected with it though, as the various Klebs all tend to be drug resistant.)

edited 30th Jun '16 8:09:42 AM by TheWanderer

I have worked with yeast cultures. They take somewhat longer than bacteria to grow and the ones I worked with formed wax-like colonies.