Growing Bacteria

 

My newest citizen science project is for the National Resources Research Institute which is an offshoot of the University of Minnesota in Duluth. The project is studying the relationship between bacteria and algae in the hopes to prevent algae blooms on the north shore of Lake Superior. On Tuesday afternoon I took a sterile bag and collected water from the flowing part of Chester Creek which is a five minute walk from my place. I placed it in a insulated pouch with a frozen ice pack and took it home. I mixed 3 ml of the creek water with a growing medium and put it in this petri dish. When I saw algae starting to form 24 hours later, I waited another 24 hours to count. I counted 14 spots of E-Coli. E-Coli are the black or dark purple spots. The pink spots are a different kind of Coli. The white spots are not Coli. When I was finished I entered the data onto a computer form. I poured a thin layer of bleach over the petri dish and disposed of it in the garbage. How odd to be purposefully growing bacteria in my house. This will be a weekly talk until the creek freezes over.