Introductory Microbiology Kit

This kit has been designed as an introduction to the study of micro-organisms. The booklet has been written for the teacher who has little or no experience of handling micro-organisms and includes full instructions on safety, aseptic techniques, growing micro-organisms and their safe disposal. All the experiments are set out step by step and cover a range of needs from 12-year-olds to sixth-form students.

The kit could be used by a single student working through all the experiments or by a group working in parallel. The reagents, cultures and media can be stored for several months, particularly if they are refrigerated. It is possible to keep cultures for longer periods, providing they are sub-cultured on to fresh medium at intervals.

Experiments included in the teaching notes:

• Making broth cultures• Effects of temperature• Making plate cultures• Effect of antibiotics• Gram’s staining

• Negative staining• Pasteurisation• Examining living bacteria• How fungi obtain food• Bacteria around us

• Looking at fungi• Bacteria in soil• The life cycle of Mucor• Bacteria in milk

All parts of the kit can be replaced from our extensive range of cultures, media, reagents and equipment.