Inoculating Loop Handling - (Oct/11/2008 )

Hi,
I am a beginner in Microbiology work. I have to streak the N agar or L agar plates on the daily basis. But I have no a grip upon inoculating loop. I dont know how to handle this. there are following cases occur with me

1. When i streak, inoculating loop deteriorates the surface.
2. If i streaked well than there would be no colonies on my streak lines even after 72 hrs.


So this thing indicates that there is some problem with my streaking.


Plz tell me some way to get a grip on it

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do you flame your inoculating loop before you streak your bacteria? You have to make sure that the loop has cooled down enough before you dip it in your bacterial solution. If it is too hot you will kill your bacteria and, consequently, nothing will grow (even if you streak well). One way to make you sure that it is cooled down is to to dip the loop into the sterile plate agar on the side of the plate....if it makes a sizzling sound than it was still too hot....and then put bacterial on the loop for streaking.

Good luck!

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