1 24 24 Experiment 1 Gram staining and T streaks Purpose Methods The purpose of this lab today is to use different kinds of media to learn more about the possible pathogen being spread in the NICU It also lets us know where within the NICU we re seeing these pathogens as each sample is tested from a different location person Sample s tested Enviv 1 Unit 1 doorknob Protocols Disinfected fume hood before taking any samples inside Open the swab sample and perform a simple T streak on all three plates blood agar mannitol salt agar and the MacConkey agar Also plated in that order keeping in mind the MacConkey agar is the most selective Disposable loops were used during T streaking on the third quadrant of my mannitol salt plating I turned the loop a few times and forgot which side of the loop I used originally There s a chance it wasn t the sterile side of the loop Immediately after T streaks use the swab and gently rub over a glass slide to use for the Gram staining later I marked the swabbed area over with a marker to help later on when using light microscopy Dispose of the waste in the proper bins Take a glass slide and perform a standard Gram stain After Gram staining use light microscopy to visualize what was swabbed on the glass slide Took a photo of what was seen with light microscopy to use for further understanding After 24 48 hours visualize the different morphologies Observations from selective and differential agar Results Agar Blood Agar MSA MacConkey 1 1 2 Number of different colony types Image paste image of each plate into the corresponding cell below and then resize for best fit Detailed notes from each media Blood Agar alpha hemolysis I m reasoning from the greenish color but not completely cleared like a beta hemolysis Only one noticeable cell morphology of small circular cocci colonies MSA Gram positive growth only small circular colonies similar to the ones growing on the blood agar MacConkey Agar Limited growth Only 4 colonies on the entire plate Circular morphology 2 colonies significantly larger in size than the other 2 Observations from gram stain Gram stain images Detailed notes on gram stain observations Gram positive cocci shaped clusters of bacteria Conclusion Discussion Prediction the genus species identification of each unique bacterial species found on your swab and how you came to that conclusion Streptococcus genus is my most educated guess since I m seeing cocci shaped gram positive bacteria only For species identification I m having a hard time discerning and finding an appropriate species other than creating a short list of alpha hemolytic streptococcus bacteria Comparing my data to my lab peers is my best option at this moment I m curious if anyone has a similar result I d want to gather more information on my bacteria by running more tests to see more detailed information on what was growing Possibly a PCR or maybe Sanger sequencing Next Steps