The Last Few Weeks of my First Semester......yaaaaaaay

So the end is near. Only a few weeks left of this 2013 fall semester and it's been filled with a lot of learning and a lot of new people. Oh yeah, and a whole lot of homework!! Being in this STEM internship program has been AWESOME so far I met a lot of new people and I learned a lot from identifying bacterias and learning how to make media plates. I know there is so much more to learn here and to do, I can't wait for the projects to start next semester if I get chosen to come back (fingers crossed). I really hope I do come back  because I wish to learn more! I need more of Jedi Josh and Matt's knowledge, but in all seriousness I really have enjoyed this semester and has been a great first one and wish to spend more in this program. I am currently very busy with research papers and presentations due next week combined with working so its kind of hectic.

Sampling 101, Instructor Darren Johnson

This week Darren was nice enough to show me the process of making these smaller TSA plates for sampling and how to actually sample for bacteria. This is crucial for my project because I will be looking for Staph aureus in Phoenix College's gym and maybe other places around campus and sampling is necessary. I also want to do something more with Staph aureus but I really do not have any idea what yet, but I will do more research on the bacteria and will try to think of something interesting and creative to do with it. So Darren literally walked me through the process of how to make this medium which is trypticase soy agar. He first showed me how to measure the mix of TSA that comes in a powder stage in a bucket. I believe we did 20 grams and added those 20 grams to the 500ml of DI water which is Deionized water. We put them in a beaker and heated and mixed the powder TSA in until we were able to look through it. The next step was to put that beaker and another container to take medium out of in to the autoclave which sterilizes everything. Next Darren showed me the Bio-Safety cabinet and showed me how to clean it with alcohol. While we waited for the media in the autoclave to be done we went out sampling in the bathroom and right outside the bio-sciences department. We did 20 samples from the floors, elevator buttons, stair rails, door handles, anywhere people touched. The media's time in the autoclave was done and Kimberly was nice enough to take it out for us. Darren then showed me how to use a special pipette to put the media in the empty petri dishes. I did make some mistakes but it was my first time making TSA so cut me some slack. Here are some pictures of the process and results.

Museum Trip and The END to the unknowns

       This past Friday a group of STEM interns and Matt, Josh, Dijana and Anil (sorry if I got the name wrong) took a trip down to the National History Museum in Mesa in the awesome Phoenix College Van! The Museum was really cool and there were many interesting things there like dinosaurs skeletons, meteorites/asteroids, rocks, fossils, panning for gold, a cell, a maze through a mine! Many things to see and experience and it was really fun and I wanted to thank the STEM team for the trip and the delicious subway in the parking lot. It wasn't the best spot but it will do hopefully next time we have a better place to eat. Also if the next trip is to the brewery I'm unfortunately still under the age of 21 so no fair but I would still enjoy the trip. Here are some pictures for those who did not attend to enjoy.

        Finally I have identified the bacterias in my unknown. Josh had given me two bacterias in one broth. I did and oxidase test to the gram negative bacilli and it was negative, so I did a glucose fermentation and was also negative. On the gram positive cocci I did the catalase test and it was positive, glucose fermentation test and was also positive, finally a MSA test and again positive. The two bacterias were (Gram Positive Cocci) Staphylococcus aureus and (Gram Negative Bacilli) Enterbacter aerogenes. This is the end to the investigations of unknown bacterias for now but I will probably have to do these processes again in some Bio class but now I am prepared and I know what to do.

Rookie Mistake! Gram Negative AND Positive?

  

                                Gram Negative Bacilli                           Gram Positive Cocci

     This week I was trying to figure out what my new bacteria or actually bacterias were since I was given two bacteria in one broth medium. I did a gram stain on each bacteria and I was able to identify that I have a gram positive cocci and a gram negative bacilli in my unknown, with the help of Josh and the use of oil on the microscope. Yet, I have committed a rookie mistake! When I inoculated some TSB with each bacteria I very foolishly forget to label which bacteria was which. I simply marked it bacteria #1 and #2 how silly of me to do. So now I have to re-do my process and stain them again next week which is a bummer because I want to start on my Staph aureus/MRSA project already! I've also been working on my article review which has been a bit troubling with the amount of vocabulary I do not understand and have to look up. Yet everything seems to be going well and I can't wait for the FIELD TRIP TOMORROW YAAAAY :)