Week 6: How to Do a Spot Test Lesson

 This week, I was not able to get anything done with Josh; however, I was productive in another lab that I was able to work in. 

In Biology or/and microbiology, spot tests are done very often. This week, I was lucky to shadow someone who did one using yeast. First of all, a spot test is done to check the growth rate of bacterial or yeast on different media, or it could just be done to perform serial dilution of different micro-organisms.

The lab I was in focus on yeast a lot, and the spot test was to check the growth rate of yeast, and to do so: 

You have to equibrate the cultures; make sure the amount is equal (The concentration is what matters really). We read the result through a spectrometer, and then got our numbers equal through dilution. It is important to use sterile water.

We used a pinner, and I got told numerous times to be careful with our pinner, and really focus when I am transferring the cells onto the petri dish using a pinner since If I mess up, I'll have to throw away the whole thing. it won't be meaningful anymore.

I received instructions and got shown how we sterilize a pinner using alcohol and fire and do it at least twice.

To sum up, I learned how to a spot test which I will be doing in the near future using yeast cells, and I am excited to learn more.