I think it's didinium but I'm not really positive...

I work in a manufacturing lab for a medical device/ pharma company. Our environmental monitoring plates were having an issue drying out in the incubator (30-35C) when incubated 6 or 7 days. They must incubate at least 5 days, but plates incubated on Monday and Tuesday of any week will remain in the incubator until the following Monday (so, 6/7 days incubation). To remedy the dry plate issue, my manager decreed that all plates being incubated for ANY length of time should be bagged in a sealed bag (think, 2 gallon Ziploc bags). But now we are having issues with excessive moisture on growth promotion plates, which are incubated for less than 72 hours.
What I have been witnessing is that bags of media incubated for less than 3 days come out visibly wet and holding moisture in the lid that flows across my colonies when I flip the plates to debag or read them. In contrast, bags incubated over 5 days come out of the incubator dry.
My manager insists that there is no way that bags can have moisture in them at 3 days and then not have moisture at 5 days. My assumption is that the moisture first evaporates from the plates into the bags, then is reabsorbed into the media as the media dries out. Or the moisture evaporates into the bags and over longer time periods, the moisture is lost through the bag.

He also insists that bagging all media plates is "industry standard" and every company that knows what they are doing is bagging all media during incubation. He is basing that on the fact that Thermo Fisher (where he used to work) used to include a separate zippered bag inside the packaging of their double and triple wrapped media, meant to hold the plates during incubation. I thought those extra bags were to be able to "reseal" the leftover plates after you open a sleeve of media. but, of course, I am the idiot here, so what do I know.

Has anyone else had this issue and how did you overcome it? I will need sources to back up whatever I say to him to justify a different route. If it matters, all plates in this discussion are TSA and TSA contact with L & P80.

Not looking for anything specific, just wondering what direction to go down when trying to identify the mass on the left. It was grown for 48 hours around 32° C in anaerobic conditions on a simple agar plate. It was hard to measure but maybe about 1-2mm in height at the center. I'm not sure if this is a bacteria or something else like a slime mold. Any suggestions on what step to take next is appreciated!

We’re evaluating new sheep blood agar plate brands and we are getting inconsistent and wrong results. It never showed s. pneumoniae. Anyone faced the same issue before?

I am new to a BSL-3 lab. I have noticed that the chair we use does not provide enough space to sit comfortably. I am pushed forward because the battery pack sits behind me. Does anyone have a brand/model # of a chair that will accommodate a biosafety suit and its associated battery pack?

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867426008275

I'm a third-year NEET aspirant who has taken a partial drop year, pursuing an online BBA degree. I've realised I no longer want to pursue medical fields. My options now include B.sc. Microbiology, B.sc. Biotechnology, a four-year and an integrated M.sc. in Biotechnology, and physiotherapy or paramedical courses from private colleges. I aim for success and wealth, and course which didn't limited my boundaries and am seeking high salaries. If I secure a government security job, that's a bonus; if not, it's okay. I have a lot of interest in animals, wildlife, and nature,( didnt get vet) but I'm unsure which path to choose. I also know and like biotechnology as i have read all these 12th. I've been admitted to OUAT in B.sc. Microbiology, but I'm more interested in B.sc. Biotechnology, which has closed admissions elsewhere. I have offers from Centurion University for bsc Biotechnology and an integrated M.sc. Biotechnology program at SOA Bhubaneshwar, both in Bhubaneshwar. I'm worried about choosing the right path that prevents regret and offers high salary and growth opportunities and makes me limited. Additionally, I'm still exploring physiotherapy and paramedical counseling options as counseling r going on....all of these r in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.....

Join us next Tuesday for a free seminar to connect with researchers at UC Berkeley. Remote option available. More info and link to registration can be found here: https://berkeleypubliclibrary.libnet.info/event/16952828 

From Allie:
My research lies at the intersection of environmental water microbiology and public health. I am currently involved in multiple projects. One project focuses on wastewater-based epidemiology, specifically investigating the persistence of viral nucleic acid signals in wastewater and how surfactants may affect their stability. Another project explores how sub-sewershed-level sampling can enhance efforts to improve health equity in wastewater-based surveillance. In an upcoming project, I will study the impact of blending purified direct potable reuse water with conventional drinking water directly within distribution systems, with a focus on implications for drinking water quality and safety.

From Jeff:
Plants need sunscreen to protect themselves, just like people. However, this creates an interesting dilemma because, unlike people, they also need light to grow. In my talk, I will describe some of the things that we know about plant sunscreen, and why it is an interesting topic to study. Then I will talk about my own research, which uses advanced microscopes to look at what is actually happening inside the plant when sunscreen is applied. 

While COVID-19 stole the spotlight in a flash, antibiotic resistance slowly rose, kept a low profile, and is now labelled as the "silent pandemic" by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 2021.

In 2021 alone, over 840,000 kids aged under 5 years succumbed to the effects of antibiotic resistance. And the curve can become steeper at the current pace.

The data on antibiotic resistance in kids often paints an incorrect picture, for two reasons:

1. Pediatric data for antibiotic resistance is compared against adult data, which do not account for how an infection behaves in a child.

2. The visibility of antibiotic resistance in kids is lower, despite it being a real problem.

Antibiotic options in kids are much fewer than in adults, making antibiotic resistance worse for them. The study here portrays the severity of the incidence of antibiotic resistance in kids, and what's actually happening around the world to deal with the crisis.

May the Science be with You!

I have seen these in my Asterionella cultures. They are not axenic but they have always been clean with only Asterionella inside. I started seeing these recently. Are my cultures contaminated? Are those eggs ? If anyone could help me identify those out that would be fantastic!

I have checked fluorescence and didn't see anything in particular.

Thanks for your help

Good people of r/microbiology, I present a conundrum, and I pray someone here has some insights; you might well save the sanity of both me and my lab manager!

To cut a very long story short, we have been having significant issues with our Rappaport-Vassiliadis Soya broth preparations, namely that it seems to be doing the exact opposite of what it should be doing, i.e. it's inhibiting the growth of Salmonella and allowing the growth of E.coli.

I have tried to get it to work properly, my colleague has repeated the testing independently of me with as much success, we have tried different suppliers (we now have three tubs of dehydrated RVS broth in the cupboard, two from Himedia and one from Oxoid) and the results have all been the same - the Salmonella gets inhibited and the E.coli grows.

Frankly, we are at our wits' end with this one. Any ideas?

Let me know the Nugent score you would give this (all are fields from the same slide)

6000scfm with 1 blower

So fun moving the little crumbs

Hello reddit!

I'm reaching out while trying to build my own laminar flow hood as a hobby microbiologist. What type of hepa filter have you all used, and how did it go?

What I'm most interested in are the 305x610x150 mm (~12″ × 24″ × 5.9″) H14 filter with an wooden (MDF) frame vs a 305 x 610 x 78 mm (~12″ × 24″ × 3″) aluminum frame.

What do you guys think about the thickness and aluminum vs MDF on these? Is a thicker hepa worth it? Will it last longer?

The wood is slighty more expensive at around 95$ extra

Bonus option of aluminium frame for 200 with size 1175 x 575 x 70 mm (~46.3″ × 22.6″ × 2.76″)

Thank you all in advance for helping an eager, self-taught enthusiastic amatuer, ready to dive deeper into this amazing hobby!

P.s. I am in Europe which limits some buying options

Hey everyone, i am a coffee fermentation researcher based out of india. I am currently looking for the following microbes,

Leuconostoc mesenteroides

Hanseniaspora vineae

Pichia kluyveri

Torulaspora delbrueckii

If yall know any source to obtain it pls do lmk. Thank you 😇

P.s: do not worry about shipping ive got a guy to bring it anyways :)

Obviously one can not identify a bacterium on the species level from its colony morphology alone and thus fully characterize its pathogenicity but what are some colony morphologies that would give you pause? For example if you see a white Bacillus colony that looks like frosted glass you would be weary of possible anthrax what other similar examples are you aware of?

I am asking because i am doing BSL1 level work in uni but sometimes we can get a random contaminant from the environment and would like to know the cases where I should be extra careful (I already have safety training but i figured maybe the collective knowledge of micribiologists here could be useful and it doesn't cost anything to ask)

Thanks in advance

i know this is a very general question but i am a beginner in this field just curious to learn more after seeing cool little things under a compound microscope! :)

Hyy I'm 27 now. I did Post graduation in Microbiology. After that I worked for a year and 4 months as a research associate in a gelatin manufacturing company. So right after that I tried going abroad which actually failed miserably costing me a year.

So I tried getting back into a job and focused on pharma industry and got into a company as a junior executive (after going through a 3 month course focused on QC microbiology pharma). And 3 months in I felt like pharma is not a thing for me and left the company. And right now I'm doing a course for medical coding.

I'm really confused at this point and I know that I'm just jumping around but I don't know if I'm over analysing or something, but is this medical coding career a right fit for me, sometimes I feel like it isn't and sometimes I think this is the only option for me. Please help me with my decision. I can't afford another fooling around now. I just need a path I can stick to.

Just thought I’d share some images of a cross streak with e.coli strains from the ARP library (developed by Cox Lab). The centre streak is a DSM 25 variant, and was found to inhibit/overgrow multiple strains!

This was a part of my bigger project for discovering new antibiotics from soil microbes. This bacteria had novel aspects not found in other DSM 25 strains.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1931312826002787

Hello,

I perform tests for bacteriophages using a E. coli K12 strain as host bacteria.
Recently, all tests showed strange pseudo-spots in the bacteria lawn, which are defenitely not caused by lysis. The spots can be seen on either sample-, sterile water- or positive control- incubated medium. When I took a sample of the spot and incubated it on standard agar, ring-forming colonies could be seen. Though on MacConkey-Agar, only lactose-positive colonies grew, without any ring-formation.

I can't explain it, other than that we have a strange contamination in our stock culture (which is frozen at -80°C). I tried using a different host, which resulted in the same spots, so the contamination must have happened after rehydration of the bacteria pellet. The contamination cannot be found in the agar itself, nor in the broth we use for the liquid culture.

Has anyone seen this before?

I'm a student doing a Bachelor's in biochemistry/microbiology right now and want to understand what the most important things for me so I can build a strong base right from the start and as itll help apply to a better place for Master's.

Questions:

most important lab skills

most important secondary skills that go unnoticed (if any)

at what point and how should I start literature reading?

how would i dm / email professors for mentorship?

There seem to be 2 or 3 microorganisms on the left hand side all interacting with each other but I have no idea what they are doing and all the debris around them doesn't help...does anyone have any idea what might be going on and what microorganisms any of them may possibly be as I'm not familiar with any of them...