1. The Six “I’s” of Microbiology

2. The Six “I’s” of Microbiology
The Six I's are methods used to locate, grow, observe and characterize microorganisms.
It is not necessary to perform all of these steps, or to perform them exactly in this order.
Each case will vary.

3. Specimen Collection
Common specimens include body fluids, food, water and soil. Once the specimen has been collected, you can perform the six “I’s”.

4. Inoculation
The sample is placed into a container of sterile medium that provides microbes with the appropriate nutrients to sustain growth.

5. Incubation
Inoculated media is placed in a controlled environment to promote growth.

6. Isolation
Separation of microbes to isolate individual colonies which only contain one type of microbe.

7. Plate Streaking for Isolation
Plate streaking is conducted to isolate one bacterial colony and identify the strain of bacteria that is growing on your plate.
Animation

9. Inspection
The cultures are observed for growth characteristics and basic details that could be useful in analyzing the specimen contents.

10. Information Gathering
Running additional tests for more specific information.
Specialized media

11. Identification
Determine the type of microbe, usually to the level of species.

12. Dichotomous Keys Used to identify organisms
Characteristics given in pairs
Read both characteristics and either go to another set of characteristics OR identify the organism

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