BRAINCAKEAseptic Culture Techniques
Aseptic technique is a set of procedures that prevents unwanted microorganisms contaminating a culture, and stops the cultured microorganisms escaping and infecting people or the environment.
Before starting:
• Wash your hands and wipe the bench with disinfectant.
• Sterilise culture media, Petri dishes and glassware in an autoclave at 121 °C for 15 minutes. The high-pressure steam kills bacteria, fungi and their spores.
During inoculation:
• Work close to a lit Bunsen burner. The rising hot air (convection currents) carries airborne microorganisms away from the work.
• Flame a metal inoculating loop until it glows red hot, then let it cool before touching the culture so the microorganisms are not killed.
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Key terms in this lesson
- inoculation
- Introducing microorganisms into a sterile culture medium so that they can grow.
More in Bacteria and Disease
- Culturing Microorganisms
- Selective Media
- Growing a Pure Culture
- Counting the Number of Cells
- Turbidity
- Dilution Plating
- Area and Mass of Fungi
- Growth of Bacterial Colonies
All 30 lessons in Bacteria and Disease · All Edexcel A-level Biology topics