Introduction to microbes and tools of the laboratory REVIEW

Francesco Redi

• first to challenge theory of spontaneous generation

• Experiment demonstrating that maggots came from eggs of flies

Louis Pasteur

• disproved abiogenesis/spontaneous generation

• Swan-necked flask experiment

Antoine van Leeuwenhoek

• invented first microscope lenses that allowed him to observe animalcules (microorganisms)

Joseph Lister

• father of aseptic surgery techniques

Edward Jenner

• created first immunization (immunity against smallpox)

Paul Ehrlich

• Magic Bullet Theory

• Believed there were drugs that could be used specifically to harm infectious pathogens without causing damage to the host

Robert Koch

• Koch’s postulates

• Series of logical steps that established whether or not an organism is pathogenic and which disease it caused

Alexander Fleming

• Discovered the first antibiotic (penicillin)

Binomial Nomenclature

• All names written in italics

• First name = genus of organism, first letter capitalized

• Second name = epithet, lowercase

• Together genus and epithet indicate species

Coccus

Round ball

Bacillus

Rods

Vibrio

Curved rod

Spirillum

Spiral

Staphylo

Clustered

Strepto

Chains

What are the Five I’s of Microbiology

• inoculation

• Incubation

• Isolation

• Inspection

• Identification

Inoculation

The introduction of an inoculum into media to culture microbes

Incubation

A temperature-controlled chamber to encourage the multiplication of microbes (37 degrees Celsius)

Isolation

Done using a bacterial dilution technique known as Streak Plating. The goal is to create isolation colonies

Selective medium

One that encourage the growth of some organisms but suppresses the growth of others

Differential medium

• has a constituent that causes an observable change (i.e., color change due to change in pH) in the medium when a particular biochemical reaction occurs

• All bacteria will grow, however growth can occur in different colors

Enrichment media

Contains special nutrients that allow growth of a particular organism that might not otherwise be present in sufficient numbers