L/O/G/O Common Lab Apparatus In Bacteriology • It was originally made of twisted metal wire (such

Laboratory as platinum, tungsten or nichrome), but disposable

molded plastic versions are now common.
• is a simple tool used mainly by microbiologists to
pick up and transfer a small sample (inoculum) from
a culture of microorganisms
e.g. for streaking on a culture plate How to use the
inoculating loop:
Petri dish
https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPl4ETb3vMg
• Also known as Petri plate or Cell culture dish
-blue flame heat – don’t cool too long to avoid
• a shallow transparent lidded dish that biologists
contamination – inoculate + streak zigzag while hot
use to culture cells, such as bacteria, fungi or small
on petri -
mosses
• named after its inventor, German bacteriologist,
Julius Richard Petri

Inoculating Needle
• Used to transfer and inoculate living
microorganisms – through stabbing
Culture Tubes • can be disposable or re-usable
• can hold, mix, or heat contents, making the • A standard reusable inoculation needle is made
glassware a laboratory essential from nichrome or platinum wire affixed to a metallic
• Transparent manufacturing allow researchers to handle.
constantly monitor contents. – due to glass • A disposable inoculation needle is often made
• Shaped for easier retrieval and minimal sample from plastic resin.
loss, the containers require smaller working • The base of the needle is dulled, resulting in a
quantities. blunted end.
• Offered in a multitude of milliliter capacities, they How to use the inoculating needle:
are extremely resistant to accommodate any https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdx48f7ORTM
operation or harsh sample. (how to inoculate agar deep)
• Culture tubes may come graduated, with caps -heat needle (or “stab”) -> heat and touch surface of
included, or with a fixed label for easy identification. slant, recap; or stab to bottom if in deep -> heat after
Test tubes- cotton plugs
-not prone to spills unlike petri dish

Inoculating Loop
Culture Swabs
• also called a smear loop, inoculation wand, or
How to use the culture swabs:
microstreaker – streaking (introduce sample)
https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL2iSTH8LlY
• The tool consists of a thin handle with a loop about
(Swabbing a plate)
5 mm wide or smaller at the end.
- has container to prevent drying of swabbed cotton
- remove excess sample/fluid by pressing to the wall
-streak by zigzag to plate, rotate 90, 90; (repeat proc.)
- place swab in container, bent all, and dispose
- e.g. during antimicrobial susceptibility testing

- Clamp (1st)
Forceps
Hanging Drop Slide
• are used when fingers are too large to grasp small
-or depression slide or concavity slide
objects or when many objects need to be held at one
• To observe living and motile microscopic
time while the hands are used to perform a task.
organisms E.g. a freely moving protozoan
• In Bacteriology lab, they are used for handling glass
-place at cover slip and invert fast
slides during the staining process. (never use hand)

Staining Rack
• holds multiple microscopic slides simultaneously
for the most efficient staining processing Caliper (Vernier Caliper)
• is a device used to measure the distance between
two opposite sides of an object
• In antibiotic susceptibility testing: to measure the
zone of inhibition
• How to use the Vernier Caliper:
Water Bath
https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBtNGU7TZgM
Laboratory_water_bath
- Add the 1st reading (main scale) + 2nd reading
- For staining or heating process
(align 2 lines & read from small scale(0._mm))
- E.g. to heat steam slide for acid fast staining

Candle Jar (GassPak)

Durham’s tube
• Any sealable, non-flammable jar large enough to
• are used in microbiology to detect production of
hold petri dishes can be a candle jar
gas by microorganisms
• Historically used for anaerobiosis; A lit candle was
• They are simply smaller test tubes inserted upside
placed in an air-tight jar such that when it went out it
down in another test tube.
would be because it used up all the available oxygen.
• The candle flame will consume most of the oxygen
in the jar and will produce an elevated level of carbon
dioxide.  These conditions are ideal for the growth of
microaerophilic organisms.
 Incubator
• Profuse growth of microbes is
obtained in the laboratory by
growing them at suitable
temperatures.
• This is done by inoculating the
desired microbe into a suitable
Antibiotic discs
culture medium and then incubating it at the
• Filter paper disks impregnated with a standardized
temperature optimum for its growth.
concentration of an antimicrobial agent
• maintains a constant temperature specifically
• Used in the Kirby-Bauer susceptibility testing
suitable for the growth of a specific microbe
- Has code for concentration, name
• the usual temperature of incubation is 35-37°C
• The incubator has a thermostat, which maintains a
constant temperature, set according to requirement.
• The temperature reading on the thermostat is
approximate.
• Accurate temperature can be seen on the
thermometer fixed on the incubator.
Hot Plate • Most of the modern incubators are programmable,
• Scientific hot plates are generally used to heat which do not need trial and error temperature setting.
samples in glass beakers, flasks, vials, bottles and Here, the operator sets the desired temperature and
other vessels. – e.g. media the required period of time.
• Some hot plates also contain a magnetic stirrer,
allowing the heated liquid to be stirred automatically.

Autoclave
• It is used not only to sterilize liquid substances
Colony Counter such as prepared media and saline (diluents)
• are used to estimate a liquid culture's density of solutions, but also to sterilize glassware’s, when
microorganisms by counting individual colonies on required.
an agar plate, slide, mini gel, or Petri dish. -estimate • When water is boiled in a closed container, due to
increased pressure inside it, the boiling point
Microscope elevates and steam temperature much beyond 100°C
• an instrument used to see objects can be obtained.
that are too small to be seen by the • This high temperature is required to kill all the
naked eye bacteria including the heat resistant spore-formers.
• Microscopy is the science of • Steam temperature increases with increase in
investigating small objects and steam pressure.
structures using such an instrument. -steam under pressure principle (15psi, 121C, 15min)
 Drying Oven
Biosafety Cabinet • For preparation of certain reagents, the
• also called a biological safety cabinet or glassware’s, after proper cleaning and rinsing with
microbiological safety cabinet distilled water, are required to be dried.
• An enclosed, ventilated laboratory workspace for • They are dried inside the drying oven at 100°C till
safely working with materials contaminated with (or the glassware’s dry up completely.
potentially contaminated with) pathogens requiring a
defined biosafety level.
• Several different types of BSC exist, differentiated
by the degree of biocontainment required.
• BSCs first became commercially available in 1950.
e.g. biosafety level 2 for covid

Culture Media
• Food for the organism
• Provide similar environmental and nutritional
Hot Air Oven conditions that exist in the natural habitat of a
• It is used for sterilization of glassware’s, such as bacterium
test tubes, pipettes and petri dishes. Such dry • Contains water, source of carbon and energy,
sterilization is done only for glasswares. source of nitrogen, trace elements and some growth
• Liquid substances, such as prepared media and factors
saline solutions cannot be sterilized in oven, as they • Uses:
lose water due to evaporation. 1. Enrich the number of bacteria
• The glasswares are sterilized at 180°C for 3 hours. 2. Select for certain bacteria and suppress others
3. Differentiate among different kinds of bacteria
-can have divisions
• How to prepare/dispense media:
https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=cneascR3OEc
L/O/G/O Thank You! www.themegallery.com
- Agar -> weigh, stir hot plate, label in foil cover,
-> autoclave 121 C 21 min-> petri in a bag