BIOL 2402 Lab Tools and Procedures Vocabulary

Vocabulary practice flashcards generated from the BIOL 2402 lecture transcript covering laboratory procedures, specimen collection, microbial culture steps, molecular diagnostic tools, serology, and microscopy concepts.

The 6 "I"s of Microbiology

The six primary steps used to study microbes in the lab: Inoculation, Incubation, Isolation, Inspection, Information Gathering, and Identification.

Inoculation

Placing a sample into a container of media to support microbial growth.

Media

Nutritional food sources used to cultivate microbes, available as liquids, solids, or specialized media like eggs.

Incubation

Exposing inoculated media to optimal growth conditions for hours or days (typically at $37^\text{ }\text{C}$ for a minimum of $18\text{ hours}$).

Incubator

Laboratory equipment used to maintain a controlled environmental temperature and atmosphere for microbial growth.

Isolation

Methods for separating individual microbes to achieve single colonies that can be visually distinguished macroscopically.

Colony

A visible mound of microbial cells of a single species derived from a single original cell.

Streak Plate

An isolation technique that achieves individual colonies by diluting sample cells across quadrants on a single agar plate.

Pour Plate

An isolation technique that achieves single colonies by serial dilutions in tubes of melted agar poured into multiple plates.

Spread Plate

An isolation technique that achieves single colonies by spreading a drop from diluted broth tubes across multiple plates.

Inspection

Observing phenotypic physical characteristics of microorganisms macroscopically and microscopically.

Morphology

The form and structural appearance of microbes, observed either macroscopically (colony shape, size, margin) or microscopically (cell shape, arrangement).

Bacterial Smear

A thin film of liquid cell suspension spread on a slide, allowed to air dry, and heat-fixed to kill and secure specimen before staining.

Simple Stain

A microscopic staining technique using a single dye to make biological features stand out.

Differential Stain

A staining technique using two different-color dyes (primary stain and counterstain) to distinguish between cell types or cell parts, such as the Gram stain.

Information Gathering

Testing pure cultures using phenotypic, biochemical, drug sensitivity, genotypic, and immunologic procedures to build a microbial profile.

DNA Probe

A specific single-stranded nucleotide sequence complementary to a target microbe's DNA, yielding results via fluorescent microscopy in under $90\text{ minutes}$.

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)

A rapid molecular technique that copies a specific segment of DNA millions of times to detect pathogens based on genetic material.

Antigen

A component or structure of a pathogen that specifically interacts with an antibody.

Antibody

A defense protein produced by host organisms that tags specific antigens for destruction.

Serological Diagnosis

An immunologic test exposing a patient's serum sample to a known antigen to check for agglutination, indicating antibody presence.

Serotyping

An immunologic test exposing an unknown bacterial colony to known antibodies to check for agglutination and identify target surface antigens.

Specificity

The property of a diagnostic test to target only a specific antibody or antigen without cross-reacting with unrelated ones.

Sensitivity

The property of a diagnostic test to detect even very small amounts of a target antibody or antigen.

False Negative

A test result that falsely indicates an absence of a pathogen when it is actually present, often caused by pathogen mutation/evolution.

False Positive

A test result that falsely indicates the presence of a pathogen when it is absent, often caused by sample contamination or mislabeling.

Identification

The final step of analyzing collected profile data to determine the precise classification or species of a microbe.

Dichotomous Key

A diagnostic flowchart tool that uses paired sequential choices (such as positive/negative metabolic tests) to guide identification.

Magnification

The capability of an optical instrument to enlarge the apparent size of an image.

Resolution

The capacity of a microscope to distinguish fine detail and separate two close objects clearly.

Field of View (FOV)

The circular area visible when looking through the eyepiece of a microscope, which decreases as magnification increases.

Light Microscope

A standard laboratory instrument using visible light for specimen illumination, offering magnification up to $1000\times$.

Electron Microscope

An advanced, high-cost microscope using electron beams for illumination, offering magnification ranges between $5000\times$ and $1000000\times$.