1. Media

2. We will be working with 4 types of media in this lab
One type is put in a petri dish
The other three types are in tubes
A broth media is all liquid and is inoculated with a needle or a loop
A slant culture is completely solid and is inoculated with a loop
A deep media is partially solid and is inoculated with a needle
A slant and a deep differ in the amount of agar that they have

3. Shown below is a picture of a loop and a needle
This is a loop
This is a needle

4. This is the media in a petri dish
Notice that there are colonies that grow on top of the agar

5. Growth on plates can be described as colony morphology
The growth is observed under a dissecting microscope
The terms to the left are used to describe the colonies

6. These media are grown in a tube
The slant is on the left
The broth is in the middle
The deep is on the right

7. These are some terms used to describe the growth in slants

8. This is what a broth culture looks like when there is growth; notice there are no colonies present

9. How can you tell if your culture is pure?
View their colonial morphology by streaking the culture on a plate
View their cellular morphology by preparing a smear (staining it) and viewing them at 1000X magnification

10. What would you see if your culture was not pure?
Streak plate would have colonies with different colonial morphologies
Cells under the microscope would have different cellular morphologies and staining properties
Gram + and gram –
Rods and cocci  

11. How can you culture become contaminated?
Leaving it open too long
Accidentally touching or setting down your loop or needle
Working in an environment that contains a lot of airborne contaminants
Forgetting to flame your loop or needle properly
Resting your broth on its side so that some of the fluid goes up into the cap and down the side of the tube

12. The deep media is used to measure motility
The tube on the left is very motile
The tube in the middle is not motile
The tube on the right is motile
Hold up the tubes and look for growth and cloudiness around the needle inoculation point to determine motility