Microorganisms Lab Report

For many years the identification of microorganisms has been important in the world of medicine. It is essential or correct disease diagnosis in patients and for proper treatment. Knowing the correct identity and characteristics of microorganism is crucial when disease outbreaks occur in populations, also knowing how humans can benefit from microorganisms is important; many can be used in making certain foods or antibiotics.

There are many reasons for knowing the identity of microorganisms. The reasons range from knowing the causative agent of a disease in a patient, so as to know how it can be treated, to knowing the correct microorganism to be used for making certain foods or antibiotics. This study was done by applying all of the methods that I have been learned so far in the microbiology laboratory class for the identification of an unknown bacterium.

Microbes are bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. The earth was formed 4.6 million years ago. And a few million years later, by 3.5 billion years ago, earth was already inhabited by a diversity of organisms. The earliest organism is Prokaryotes and within the next billion years, two distinct groups of prokaryotes called bacteria and archaea diverged. Eukaryotes cell evolved from a prokaryotes community, a host cell containing even smaller prokaryotes .The microbial world accounted for all known life forms for nearly 50 to 90% of Earth's history. We are still researching microbial organisms today in marine environment, extreme environments. A microbial observatory is an NSF-funded project dedicated to the discovery and characterization of novel microorganisms and microbial communities of diverse

Our world has changed dramatically since the day Antoine van Leeuwenhoek discovered microorganisms in 1676 using a simple microscope. In early days, scientists first thought life arose from inanimate materials. This theory, known as abiogenesis or spontaneous generation, was disproved later on by scientists including Lazarro Spallanzani and Louis Pasteur. The experiments conducted by these scientists showed that living things could only arise from preexisting life, or biogenesis. All life begins with a living cell, composing of five required components. These components are DNA, RNA, cell membrane, ribosome, and cytoplasm. As more investigations on bacteria were conducted, scientists were able to acquire a deeper knowledge of the microbiology and pathology of animals, plants, and humans.

The purpose of this project was to identify the identities of two unknown bacteria in a mixed broth culture by using several separation methods. To separate the organisms, a four-way streak plate technique was used to isolate the two unknown bacteria into separate visible colonies. Then after each colony were clearly isolated; the two unknowns were processed through Gram staining test to determine the Gram stain and morphology. After Gram staining, a carbohydrate test was performed on each unknown to determine if it had glucose, sucrose, or lactose fermentation. The results of the sugar test help determining which biochemical test should be performed next. The Gram positive organism was tested through a carbohydrate fermentation test, then further tested to confirm its identity through an indole and catalase test. The Gram negative organism was tested through carbohydrate fermentation test, then further tested to confirmed its identity through an indole, and TSIA test. After running four biochemical tests, the results conclude that the Gram positive unknown was Staphylococcus aureus. S. aureus was identified based on the fermentation results of the glucose test, negative indole test, and a positive catalase production. S. aureus is a Gram positive circular shaped bacterium that is very common in the U.S and is normally found in the nose, respiratory tract, and on the skin. This bacterium is usually the most common cause of infections after injury or surgery.

When reflecting back to experiment 3, Aseptic Technique and Culturing Microbes, I realized the large amount of microorganisms that can be found in everyday life. Many different types are found with in the human body. Theses experiments focused on two types of bacteria. First was Staphylococcus epidermidis, found on the skin, and second was Lactobacillus acidophilus, found in the gastrointestinal tract. Both have similar needs for growth when it comes to temperature, however, different growth environments are used.

In this experiment, I hypothesized the women’s restroom soap dispenser will contain more microorganisms, rather than the student’s hallway bench. The Microorganisms are very tiny organisms that travels through the cell caused by archaea and protists bacteria that appears in the human body. For example, Microbes appears thorough our skin, mouth and into the air. It is not visible for you to touch, feel, or see. These tiny organisms can contribute to worse conditions. The worse conditions cab be spread, directly or indirectly to certain cancers, bowel syndrome, asthma, and autism (Campbell 2015). Also, microbes changes can effect on how we eat, live, and move around in the human body. Microorganisms reflect the changes of the environment

Though the term gut bacteria might sound yucky, this bacteria that lives naturally in your bowels is beneficial. International research has revealed gut bacteria could help in the prevention and treatment of health problems such as diabetes and obesity. Discover how gut bacteria, also known as “good bugs.” can be important for people with diabetes.

A clinical situation was presented to the Microbiology class at city college of San Francisco to be ran along the medical team at Zuckerberg San Francisco general hospital. There are approximately 40 patients that are presenting with a visible skin infection, and all have similar (If not exact) manifestations of symptoms. The patients do not seem to be responding to the current antimicrobial therapy that has been prescribed by the doctors. The team is now getting ready to discuss further treatment plans to provide the patients with further information.

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the growth of bacterial colonies on two test subjects. With reasoning, the door knob and the inside of the sink appeared to be the better choices due to the fact that the door knob comes in contact with every student who enters and leaves the classroom and the second choice was the sink because it gets a daily use as well, at least by anyone who needs to drain something or wash their hands. The null hypothesis stated that the door handle was going to be home to more bacterial colonies because of the regular grabbing and the average human hand contains hundreds of thousands of genetically distinct bacteria. However, based on the collection of data, the sink harvested far more colonies than we could count in the petri dishes. Concluding the end with a t-value of +/- 2.9436. By analyzing the data, concluding the t-value rejected the null hypothesis.

Bacteria surround us, they cover our bodies from our phalanges on our feet to the follicles of hair on our craniums. Therefore, it is important to realize that while, the majority of these astounding microorganisms are beneficial, certain bacteria are devastating to our health.

In the experiment “Antimicrobic Sensitivity Testing: The Kirby-Bauer Method” students used six different antimicrobics to identify which antimicrobics were effective in killing four different organisms. The four different organisms that students used in this experiment were: E. coli, Proteus Vulgaris, P. aeruginosa, and S. aureus. And the six antimicrobics that students used in this experiment were: Amoxicillin, Cefoxitin, Chloramphenicol, Doxycycline, Rifampin, Vancomycin. Each organism was swabbed in a different plate of nutrients, and the six antimicrobics were placed in the plate, too. After swabbing the organism and placing the antimicrobics, the plates were incubated for forty-eight hours.

Every second of our lives, we run into microbes of all varieties. We encounter numerous types of viruses and bacteria just walking in our own homes. Scientists and Microbiologists are still discovering millions of microbes each and every day. How can one not believe in a creator when there are so many tiny things that are swarming around us each day? Bacteria is everywhere. Good bacteria are allowing life cycles to continue, where bad bacteria are trying to throw those cycles off track. The Lord so intricately designed microbes for specific purposes. They each do different things, causing life to be the way it is. Each microbe has a different effect on our lives. The vast amount of things the Lord uses microbes for is amazing. He made microbes that decompose garbage, microbes that can eat flesh, microbes that can fight other microbes in the body and so many more! The Lord causes the function of the microbes for all biogeochemical cycles. In this paper I will be discussing two different microbes. One microbe being medically related to life and then the second being an environmental microbe. Each of these has a different effect on life of some type. So, let’s begin.

Abstract: The knowledge of the existence of bacteria can be traced back ages, however their existence can be traced to the very start of planet Earth. The project focused on surfaces with constant physical human interaction and the growth of bacterial colonies in indoor environments. The process centered on the use of Aseptic technique to collect samples of bacterial colonies on the locations we hypothesized contained the highest number of bacterial colonies. Three trials of each were conducted and a control group was used in which it was sterile water. The results proved our hypothesis

Since then many studies and investigations have been designed around pathogenic microorganisms to gain a developed and scientific understanding of how they function, what factors affect their growth, what diseases they cause and how to reduce the amount present in an environment. (Sielearning.tafensw, 2017)