Adrenaline Rush

Yikes! Nothing like an adrenaline rush when you forget to utilize a test that’s crucial for your project. I am so glad we had a fellow STEM member to guide us in the right direction. I’m also glad that we kept our culture plates. If we didn’t I’m not entirely sure what would happen. We probably would've had an extremely hard time identifying the bacteria. We ended up scrambling to get the results for FTM. This test is important because it will tell us whether or not our bacteria is aerobic, anaerobic, or facultative.

Name that Bacteria

As this semester is rapidly coming to a close so is our research project. We have officially finished all of the tests that needed to be completed. The only thing left for us to do is take that information and start identifying our bacteria. I'm realizing that this may take awhile as we have about 30 or more specimens. Next week we will start to talk about our plans for our poster. I've never done one of these before so it will be interesting. Wish us luck!

Dreamy Draw

This has been a very busy week in the lab. I went hiking at Dreamy Draw on Sunday to gather more samples for testing. I have officially isolated 24 colonies this week. Meaning next week is going to be even busier as we will have to perform various tests on all of the individual colonies. I decided I would start to share some interesting facts about Creosote as I learn myself. Creosote bushes form symbiotic relationships (mutualism) with bacteria, fungi and algae. These microbial communities allow the Creosote to gather more phosphorous and nitrogen during rainfall. Making this desert plant more advanced than other desert plants.

The black parts of the Creosote are where the microbial communities thrive. (Bacteria, algae, fungi)

Dreamy Draw