Aseptic Technique

What error in aseptic technique most likely caused this contaminant colony to grow on this agar slant?

failure to flame the mouth of tube

When you inoculate a plate, what do you with the lid of the plate?

holding the lid in your hand, partially cover the plate with the lid during the inoculation

You have finished sterilizing your inoculation loop using the Bunsen Burner, but realized you need to leave your bench to get the media you intend to inoculate. What should you do with your sterilized loop to prevent needing to sterilize it again?

place the loop in a test tube rack, loop side up, to prevent the loop from touching a surface

Watch the following video and indicate which action is most likely to introduce contaminates into the sample?

sterilizing the loop before putting it down

What is an inoculum?

the bacteria transferred to a new medium

A student properly flames her loop but then forgets to let it cool. Instead, she immediately inserts the hot loop into her broth culture. What is the most important issue associated with this mistake?

the hot loop may create aerosols when it touches the culture

A student inoculated an agar slant with inoculum from a colony on a Petri plate. The slant was incubated at an appropriate growth temperature for this species for 2 days. The results are shown in this photograph. Which hypothesis best explains why there is so little growth on the agar?

the loop dug into the agar during inoculation

If a student forgets to flame the mouth of a broth culture tube before transferring culture to it, what might result?

the medium in the tube might become contaminated

This video shows a student improperly sterilizing an inoculating loop. What is the student's mistake?

the wire portion of the instrument was not adequately heated

Which of the following best describes aseptic technique?

to manipulate bacteria without introducing contaminants