{"id":978,"date":"2018-08-05T00:18:38","date_gmt":"2018-08-05T00:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/?p=978"},"modified":"2018-08-13T21:50:21","modified_gmt":"2018-08-13T21:50:21","slug":"microbiology-unknown-project-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/microiology\/microbiology-unknown-project-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Microbiology: Unknown Project Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>How to succeed in your microbiology unknown project.<\/h2>\n<p>The most common microbiology project is the correct identification of a bacterium using as few tests\/diagnostics as possible. This is usually an &#8220;end of quarter&#8221; project. Here are some tips (in no particular order):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The most important tip is to keep your mind open. Let the science speak for itself. Don&#8217;t make any assumptions. If you make assumptions from the get-go (e.g. it&#8217;s <em>E. coli<\/em>), then you&#8217;ve skewed your perspective and your logic. If you start off looking for something to confirm your assumptions, then you&#8217;re going to misinterpret your results.<\/li>\n<li>Pay attention to your class lab results during the rest of the quarter. Pool data and results from classmates. Learn about the different strains of bacteria you&#8217;ve handled. There&#8217;s a really good chance that your &#8220;unknown&#8221; will come from one of the bacterium you&#8217;ve previously handled\/examined earlier in the quarter.<\/li>\n<li>If the teacher gave you a list of possible bacteria, then try to eliminate half of the pool (via test results) at every step in your dichotomous key. Create a dichotomous key! For example, the teacher gives you a list of 10 possible bacteria. Separate Gram-positive from Gram-negative. Research all the other qualities of the bacteria and put your research in a matrix chart (examples in pictures below). This matrix will help you create your dichotomous key and help you decide the tests and media you will use.<\/li>\n<li>During the quarter leading up to the unknown project, take lots of pictures of your results and your classmates&#8217;. This will provide a great visual key\/reference.<\/li>\n<li>Develop excellent aseptic techniques as soon as possible.<\/li>\n<li>Maintain a stock of pure cultures and a working cultures. Label, label, label. I cannot emphasize that enough.<\/li>\n<li>Create a naming schematic and spreadsheet for your pure\/working cultures. The name should tell you which generation of specimen it is. This is an example: 08012018plate. Followed by 08012018plate08072018 (which tells me that I created another plate, 08072018, from the 08012018 plate). Or 08012018plate08072018slant. That tells me that I created a slant, 08072018, from my 08012018 plate. Get the idea? You want to keep track of your generations. And YES&#8230;keep the cultures (as many as reasonable), and make sure you have relatively &#8220;fresh&#8221; batches to do your testing. If you&#8217;re 16 days into your unknown project, you&#8217;re NOT going to want to use the original plate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/06092017ShirleyChungmatrixprint3_page1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-980\" src=\"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/06092017ShirleyChungmatrixprint3_page1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1113\" srcset=\"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/06092017ShirleyChungmatrixprint3_page1.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/06092017ShirleyChungmatrixprint3_page1-300x232.jpg 300w, https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/06092017ShirleyChungmatrixprint3_page1-768x594.jpg 768w, https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/06092017ShirleyChungmatrixprint3_page1-1024x791.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/06092017ShirleyChungmatrixprint3_page2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-981\" src=\"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/06092017ShirleyChungmatrixprint3_page2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1113\" srcset=\"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/06092017ShirleyChungmatrixprint3_page2.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/06092017ShirleyChungmatrixprint3_page2-300x232.jpg 300w, https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/06092017ShirleyChungmatrixprint3_page2-768x594.jpg 768w, https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/06092017ShirleyChungmatrixprint3_page2-1024x791.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ShirleyChungjournal4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1113\" src=\"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ShirleyChungjournal4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2550\" height=\"3301\" srcset=\"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ShirleyChungjournal4.jpg 2550w, https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ShirleyChungjournal4-232x300.jpg 232w, https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ShirleyChungjournal4-768x994.jpg 768w, https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/ShirleyChungjournal4-791x1024.jpg 791w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2550px) 100vw, 2550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to succeed in your microbiology unknown project. The most common microbiology project is the correct identification of a bacterium using as few tests\/diagnostics as possible. This is usually an &#8220;end of quarter&#8221; project. Here are some tips (in no particular order): The most important tip is to keep your mind open. Let the science [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-microiology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=978"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1114,"href":"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978\/revisions\/1114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/integrativewellnessandmovement.com\/iwmbasicscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}