In addition to the things that I did last week, my mentor and I also set up agar plates around 4 different places in the lab to see what kinds of molds are in the atmosphere. I placed one agar plate near the sink, one near the cookers (the pressure cookers), one near the incubation rack, and one near the compressor shelf. Coming in today, I was really curious as to see the different kinds of molds that should have formed over the past few days while I was gone. To my great dismay, not that many molds or bacteria formed on the plates--this is a good thing in the company's stance as that means their lab for the most part is a sterile environment--which is what they aim to attain. However, the agar plate next to the pressure cookers showed three groupings of mold that had begun to take form. In addition, the agar plate that was placed near the sink exhibited a blob of bacteria. My mentor taught me how to tell the difference between molds and bacteria. Contaminants that look watery and slimy are most likely to be the latter group (bateria) while dry and fuzzy substances the former (molds). After seeing these, I finally understood the reason why my mentor stressed ever-so-much the concept of sterilizing every single tool and person before conducting experiments. Even in this seemingly-pristine environment, there are still contaminants in the air that can harm the products.
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| This is bacteria |
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| These are 3 molds |
As well as that, today I was able to take home my first test-product-mushroom-packaging product!! After I took the picture of the teddy bears posted in my previous blog post, my mentor and I put them in the dryer to absorb all the moisture and thereby prevent the mycelia from further growing and fruiting mushrooms. Had these objects simply been left out in the humid atmosphere, they would turn into something like the picture below.
<-- The protruding object circled in yellow is the beginning of a mushroom. Left over time, this would eventually grow into the mushroom we know and imagine today.
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| I got to take these three products back with me!! |
Upon showing my first test products to my friends, they all believed me when I lied and told them it was styrofoam. When I told them it was actually made of compost materials and mushroom mycelium, they were very surprised. :)
Now I know the difference between bacterial and fungal infection. Great! I like how you used pictures to make your point.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you are appreciating the challenge and importance of sterile technique. It can be hard to master because microbes are everywhere, and it can really get in the way of science research.
Looking forward to the next fungal post!