GCSE Required practical Microbiology

D

Danitech

Hello everyone
We are doing this practical in two weeks and maybe we wont have the e. coli n time. Does anybody have suggestions of what we could use instead?
Thank you very much
 
A

Arian

Dave T said:
Yeast? Have a look at this: https://science.cleapss.org.uk/Resource-Info/GL218-Yeast.aspx depends what you're doing though.... antibiotic susceptibility won't work with yeast, but antimicrobials will..... :)
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I've just had a read of that document. I found this sentence a bit worrying though "The importance of hygiene after using the toilet can be modelled using yeast solutions and toilet tissue". I really don't know what they have in mind :confused:
 
S

Snailo

Arian said:
I've just had a read of that document. I found this sentence a bit worrying though "The importance of hygiene after using the toilet can be modelled using yeast solutions and toilet tissue". I really don't know what they have in mind :confused:
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Don't worry - its nothing to do with actual toilets! Basically, using malt agar plates, spread one for each set with a lawn of yeast, then dab a hand on the lawn of yeast, then dab on a sterile malt agar plate, do another one where you use one layer of (clean) toilet paper to dab the yeast lawn, then discard the toilet paper and dab fingers onto sterile plate (you see if any of the yeast gets through the toilet paper) - see what grows. The agar plate with yeast lawn is basically your 'bottom' model. You can add in washing hands or not after touching the yeast, using one layer or several layers of paper etc.
 
A

Arian

Snailo said:
Don't worry - its nothing to do with actual toilets! Basically, using malt agar plates, spread one for each set with a lawn of yeast, then dab a hand on the lawn of yeast, then dab on a sterile malt agar plate, do another one where you use one layer of (clean) toilet paper to dab the yeast lawn, then discard the toilet paper and dab fingers onto sterile plate (you see if any of the yeast gets through the toilet paper) - see what grows. The agar plate with yeast lawn is basically your 'bottom' model. You can add in washing hands or not after touching the yeast, using one layer or several layers of paper etc.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I didn't think it would involve real toilets but was completely baffled as to how it would work :laughing: Does it work well? Not that I'm thinking of suggesting it as a prac to do here.
 
S

scitechy

Snailo said:
Don't worry - its nothing to do with actual toilets! Basically, using malt agar plates, spread one for each set with a lawn of yeast, then dab a hand on the lawn of yeast, then dab on a sterile malt agar plate, do another one where you use one layer of (clean) toilet paper to dab the yeast lawn, then discard the toilet paper and dab fingers onto sterile plate (you see if any of the yeast gets through the toilet paper) - see what grows. The agar plate with yeast lawn is basically your 'bottom' model. You can add in washing hands or not after touching the yeast, using one layer or several layers of paper etc.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a good science club practical
 
S

Snailo

Arian said:
Thanks, I didn't think it would involve real toilets but was completely baffled as to how it would work :laughing: Does it work well? Not that I'm thinking of suggesting it as a prac to do here.
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It does actually. Makes the kids think about the importance of hand washing. Yeast grows very fast and readily on a malt agar plate too, so its a pretty reliable practical.
 
L

Locker

We use milk that has gone off for GCSE. It's best if it looks a bit grainy/lumpy. It gives nice results quickly. We only use E.coli K12 for the A level version. The GCSE students make a meal of it anyway so a bit of whiffy milk is good enough for them!
 
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