EQUIPMENT USED IN THE STUDY OF MICROBIOLOGY AND PARASITOLOGY LABORATORY

By: Jhean Alphonsine T. Means

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO KNOW THESE EQUIPMENTS?

 Familiarization with these different materials and their uses is important to students not
only for their safety but also for the accuracy of the results of the equipment.
 Without the proper knowledge of your equipment you will not know how to use your
materials or how to correct a mistake that you could make with your equipment.
AVOIDING INFECTIOUS MICROORGANISMS AND HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS:
• Wash your hands with disinfectant soap when you arrive at the lab and again before you
leave.
• Absolutely no food, drinks, chewing gum, or smoking is allowed in the laboratory. Do
not put anything in your mouth such as pencils, pens, labels, or fingers. Do not store
food in areas where microorganisms are stored.
• Purchase a lab coat and safety glasses, bring them to class, and use them. Alternatively,
a long-sleeved shirt that buttons or snaps closed is acceptable protective clothing. This
garment must cover your arms and be able to be removed without pulling it over your
head. Leave protective clothing in the lab and do not wear it to other non-lab areas.
• Avoid loose fitting items of clothing. Wear appropriate shoes (sandals are not allowed)
in the laboratory.
• Keep your workspace free of all unnecessary materials. Backpacks, purses, and coats
should be placed in the cubbyholes by the front door of the lab. Place needed items on
the floor near your feet, but not in the aisle.
• Disinfect work areas before and after use with 70% ethanol or fresh 10% bleach.
Laboratory equipment and work surfaces should be decontaminated with an
appropriate disinfectant on a routine basis, and especially after spills, splashes, or other
contamination.
• Label everything clearly.
• Replace caps on reagents, solution bottles, and bacterial cultures. Do not open Petri
dishes in the lab unless absolutely necessary.
• Inoculating loops and needles should be flame sterilized in a Bunsen burner before you
lay them down.
• Turn off Bunsen burners when not is use. Long hair must be restrained if Bunsen burners
are in use.
• Treat all microorganisms as potential pathogens. Use appropriate care and do not take
cultures out of the laboratory.
• Wear disposable gloves when working with potentially infectious microbes or samples
(e.g., sewage). If you are working with a sample that may contain a pathogen, then be
extremely careful to use good bacteriological technique.
• Sterilize equipment and materials.
 • Never pipette by mouth. Use a pipetting aid or adjustable volume pipettors.
• Consider everything a biohazard. Do not pour anything down the sink. Autoclave liquids
and broth cultures to sterilize them before discarding.
• Dispose of all solid waste material in a biohazard bag and autoclave it before discarding
in the regular trash.
• Familiarize yourself with the location of safety equipment in the lab (e.g., eye-wash
station, shower, sinks, fire extinguisher, biological safety cabinet, first aid kit, emergency
gas valve)
• Dispose of broken glass in the broken glass container.
• Dispose of razor blades, syringe needles, and sharp metal objects in the “sharps”
container.
• Report spills and accidents immediately to your instructor. Clean small spills with care
(see instructions below). Seek help for large spills.
• Report all injuries or accidents immediately to the instructor, no matter how small they
seem.

IMPORTANT PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) USED IN THE LABORATORY:

Personal protective equipment (PPE) includes all clothing and work accessories designed to
protect employees from workplace hazards.
Types of PPE:
Eye and Face Protection Skin Protection/Proper Clothing
Footwear Respirators
Hand Protection Hearing Conservation
Head Protection

DIFFERENT EQUIPMENT USED AND THEIR FUNCTIONS:

 ALCOHOL LAMP
An alcohol burner or spirit lamp is a piece of laboratory equipment used to produce an
open flame. It can be made from brass, glass, stainless steel or aluminum.
Alcohol burners are preferred for some uses over Bunsen burners for safety purposes,
as their flame is limited to approximately two inches (5 centimeters) in height, with a
comparatively lower temperature.
Are sufficient for performing standard microbiology laboratory procedures and can be
used for flame sterilization of another laboratory equipment.
• APPLICATOR STICK
This item is used for many purposes, usually to mix small quantities of different
materials together. Another use would be to transfer very small quantities of a material
to another container.
• AUTOCLAVE

Many autoclaves are used to sterilize equipment and supplies by subjecting them to
high-pressure saturated steam at 121 °C (249 °F) for around 15–20 minutes depending
on the size of the load and the contents.
invented by Charles Chamberland in 1879.
means that all bacteria, viruses, fungi, and spores are inactivated.
AUTOCLAVE PURPOSES:
In the laboratory, materials and objects are sterilized for the following purposes:
1. To prepare materials for bacteriological cell cultures (test tubes, pipettes,
Petridishes, etc.) in order to avoid their contamination.
2. 2. Prepare elements used for taking samples. (All must be in sterile conditions:
needles, tubes, containers).
3. Sterilize contaminated material.
Principle behind the use of autoclave:
• The principle behind the working of an Autoclave is that- The higher the pressure
created inside the autoclave, the higher would be the attainable temperature
inside it.
• The boiling point of water at normal atmospheric pressure is 100oC.
• When the free-flowing steam at a temperature of 100oC is subjected under
pressure of 1 atmosphere above the sea-level pressure i.e., 15 pounds pressure
per square inch, the temperature inside the autoclave happens to rise up to
121oC, which is an usual and common parameters employed in the moist heat
sterilization.
• To be effective, the autoclave must reach and maintain a temperature of 121° C
for at least 30 minutes by using saturated steam under at least 15 psi of
pressure.
• The temperature 120 degrees is used because the approximate 120 degree is the
highest temp which the spore of thermophilic bacteria (Bacillus
sterothermophilus) can
withstand.
Hence for autoclaving temp is kept 121 so as to kill even the spores is killed.
• AUTOCLAVE TAPE
is an adhesive tape used in autoclaving (heating under high pressure with steam
to sterilize) to indicate whether a specific temperature has been reached.
works by changing color after exposure to temperatures commonly used in
sterilization processes, typically 121°C in a steam autoclave.
• BEAKER
is a simple container for stirring, mixing and heating liquids commonly used in many
laboratories. Beakers are generally cylindrical in shape, with a flat bottom.
Most also have a small spout (or "beak") to aid pouring as shown in the picture.
Beakers are often graduated, that is, marked on the side with lines indicating the
volume contained.
• CENTRIFUGE
is a laboratory device that is used for the separation of fluids, gas or liquid, based on
density. Separation is achieved by spinning a vessel containing material at high
speed; the centrifugal force pushes heavier materials to the outside of the vessel.
used to purify cells, subcellular organelles, viruses, proteins, and nucleic acids.
• CENTRIFUGE TUBES
Centrifuge tubes (also referred to as Eppendorf Tubes, Microfuge Tubes, and
Microcentrifuge Tubes) are precision-made, high-strength tubes of glass or plastic
made to fit exactly in rotor cavities.
may vary in capacity from 50 mL down to much smaller capacities used in
microcentrifuges used extensively in molecular biology laboratories. Comes in plastic
or glass with various shapes.
Glass centrifuge tubes can be used with most solvents, but tend to be more
expensive. They can be cleaned like other laboratory glassware, and can be
sterilized by autoclaving.
Plastic centrifuge tubes, especially micro-centrifuge tubes tend to be less
expensive. Water is preferred when plastic centrifuge tubes are used. They
are more difficult to clean thoroughly, and are usually inexpensive enough to
be considered disposable
• DROPPER
Pasteur pipettes, also known as droppers or eye droppers, are used to transfer small
quantities of liquids.
named after the French scientist Louis Pasteur.
Comes in glass and plastic types that are sterilized and plugs with rubber bulb at the
open end of the pipette preventing the contamination from the atmosphere.
• ERLENMEYER FLASK
also known as a conical flask (BrE) or titration flask, is a type of laboratory flask which
features a flat bottom, a conical body, and a cylindrical neck.
named after the German chemist Emil Erlenmeyer.
They may be graduated, and often spots of ground glass or enamel are used where they
can be labeled with a pencil. It may come in glass or plastic with various sizes / volumes.
 The tapered sides and narrow neck of this flask allow the contents of the flask to be
mixed by swirling, without risk of spillage, making them suitable for titrations.
Erlenmeyer flasks' narrow necks can also support filter funnels.
appropriate for recrystallization
used in microbiology for the preparation of microbial cultures
suitable for boiling liquids
• FERMENTATION TUBES
a modified culture tube with an upright closed arm for collecting gas formed in broth
cultures by microorganisms.
They are simply smaller test tubes inserted upside down in another test tube.
is initially filled with the solution in which the microorganism is to be grown. If gas is
produced after inoculation and incubation, a visible gas bubble will be trapped inside
the small tube
is a thin, flat, rectangular piece of glass that is used as a platform for microscopic
specimen observation.
A typical glass slide usually measures 25 mm wide by 75 mm, or 1 inch by 3 inches long,
is designed to fit under the stage clips on a microscope stage.
Glass is the preferred transparent material, as it allows light to freely pass through it
with a very low refractive index -- the measure that light bends as it passes through a
substance.
often used together with a cover slip or cover glass, a smaller and thinner sheet of glass
that is placed over the specimen.
• HANGING DROP SLIDE
Hanging drop preparation is a special type of wet mount (in which a drop of medium
containing the organisms is placed on a microscope slide), often is used in dark
illumination to observe the motility of bacteria
Hanging Drop Technique: a drop of culture is placed on a coverslip that is encircled
with petroleum jelly (or any other sticky material). The coverslip and drop are then
inverted over the well of a depression slide. The drop hangs from the coverslip, and the
petroleum jelly forms a seal that prevents evaporation. This preparation gives good
views of microbial motility.
• INCUBATOR
Laboratory incubators provide a controlled, contaminant-free environment for safe,
reliable work with cell and tissue cultures by regulating conditions such as temperature,
humidity, and CO2. Microbiological incubators are used for the growth and storage of
bacterial cultures.
• INOCULATING LOOP
also called a smear loop, inoculation wand or microstreaker, is a simple tool used mainly
by microbiologists to retrieve an inoculum from a culture of microorganisms.
The loop is used in the cultivation of microbes on plates by transferring inoculum for
streaking. The wire forms a small loop with a diameter of about 5 mm.
• INOCULATING NEEDLE
used to transfer and inoculate living microorganisms. It is one of the most commonly
implicated biological laboratory tools and can be disposable or re-usable. A standard
 reusable inoculation needle is made from nichrome or platinum wire affixed to a
metallic handle. A disposable inoculation needle is often made from plastic resin. The
base of the needle is dulled, resulting in a blunted end.
Streaking on streak plates, fish tail inoculation of slant cultures and the inoculation of
stab cultures can be done with the inoculation needle. Stab cultures specifically require
the inoculation needle and is used to study cell motility.
• MAGNETIC STIRRER
A magnetic stirrer or magnetic mixer is a laboratory device that employs a rotating
magnetic field to cause a stir bar (also called "flea") immersed in a liquid to spin very
quickly, thus stirring it.
The rotating field may be created either by a rotating magnet or a set of stationary
electromagnets, placed beneath the vessel with the liquid.
• PETRI DISH
sometimes spelled "Petrie dish" and alternatively known as a Petri plate or cell-culture
dish), named after the German bacteriologist Julius Richard Petri.
a shallow cylindrical glass or plastic lidded dish that biologists use to culture cells.
• REFRIGERATOR
are used to cool samples or specimens for preservation. They include refrigeration units
for storing blood plasma and other blood products, as well as vaccines and other
medical or pharmaceutical supplies. They differ from standard refrigerators used in
homes or restaurant because they need to be totally hygienic and completely reliable.
Laboratory refrigerators need to maintain a consistent temperature in order to minimize
the risk of bacterial contamination and explosions of volatile materials.
• SPATULA
spatulas and microspatulas are small stainless steel utensils, used for scraping,
transferring, or applying powders and paste like chemicals or treatments. Many spatula
brands are also resistant to acids, bases, heat, and solvents, which make them ideal for
use with a wide range of compound.
are resistant to deterioration from contact with boiling water, acids, bases, and most
solvents
• STAINING JAR
are normally use to stain cells and tissues on glass microscope slides (typically each type
of stain will be used in separate dish as without staining most cells are just a clear
liquids)
• STAINING RACK
accommodates microscope slides in staining procedures. It fits most coplin and round-
open staining jars. It is made from a special material which is resistant to all chemicals
and solvents which are used in staining
• STIRRING ROD
stirring rod or stir rod is a piece of laboratory equipment used to mix chemicals and
liquids for laboratory purposes. They are usually made of solid glass, about the thickness
and slightly longer than a drinking straw, with rounded ends.
 Chemical reactions often require agitation to proceed, and the stir rod serves as a way
for a scientist to provide controlled agitation without interacting with the chemicals
directly.
also break up an emulsion during an extraction
• TEST TUBE WITH SCREW
A test tube, also known as a culture tube or sample tube, is a common piece of
laboratory glassware consisting of a finger-like length of glass or clear plastic tubing,
open at the top and closed at the bottom
used in different fields of sciences for handling and culturing all kinds of live organisms,
such as molds, bacteria, seedlings, plant cuttings
• TEST TUBE RACK
a laboratory equipment that is used to hold upright multiple test tubes at the same
time. It is most commonly used when various different solutions are needed to work
with simultaneously, for safety reasons, for safe storage of test tubes, and to ease the
transport of multiple tubes.
Test tube racks also ease the organizing of test tubes and provide support for the test
tubes being worked with.
• WEIGHING SCALE
are devices to measure weight or calculate mass.
• WEIGHING BOAT
an open container, often disposable, used for weighing samples