Hello, Gram positive bacteria can conjugate, however, the systems they use are different from Gram negative bacteria. This process is less well understood in Gram positives. It is believed that Gram positive conjugation involves pheromones – see the following links. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/a...

Happy to help. Please let us know if you have any further questions.

Mary

Hello, There are several different species of bacteria that live in your mouth – all of them have proteins. Every protein has a primary structure, this is the amino acid sequence of the protein. Depending on what this sequence is, proteins can then fold to form secondary structures (e.g. α-helix or ...

Hi Jason,

Just a thought - you can buy pre-poured Nutrient agar plates. See the following link.

http://www.sciencestuff.com/prod/L-p-Agar/1513-10

This may be simpler in the end.

Mary

In addition, here are a couple of links that may be helpful to you:

http://www.freesciencefairproject.com/b ... onies.html

http://www.umsl.edu/~microbes/pdf/Incubator.pdf

Jason, If your agar appears to be a gel you can simply microwave it, but do so with caution. You will want to make sure to do this on LOW power and monitor is closely - you do not want the agar to explode/overflow out of the bottle. Also make sure the lid is loosened. You could start using power lev...

Hello, I just want to make sure you are aware of the risks of working with unknown bacteria - please see the following link about “microorganism safety” https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Micro_Safety.shtml You will likely need to need access to an autoclave (high pre...

Hello, Before you start your project, I just want to make sure you are aware of the risks of working with some bacteria. Please see the following link about “microorganism safety” before you continue and make sure you have appropriate supervision. https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects...

Hello, I would suggest checking out the environmental science section on the science buddies page for some ideas: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/recommender_interest_area.php?ia=EnvSci Also, here is another link that might be helpful to you: http://www.juliantrubin.com/fairproj...

Hello, You can find some good background information from the American Lung Association and American Cancer Society – see the following links: http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_10_2x_Cigarette_Smoking.asp http://www.lungusa.org/stop-smoking/ Some ideas/considerations for your experiment:...

Hi Alex, You will probably want to use a method involving serial dilutions to enumerate your viable bacterial counts (determination of colony forming units per sample). This will allow you to differentiate between your treated and control samples. I have posted a couple of links below that explain t...

Hi, Your topic is very broad. You could possibly do a survey type project that is mostly research based. You first need to come up with a hypothesis and then you can decide the best way to test it. Alternately, I would suggest that you check out the Science Buddies science fair project ideas to get ...

Hi,

Here are a couple of links that may be helpful to you.

http://www.ehow.com/about_5665918_motor ... ants_.html
http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj ... ishaY.html

Mary

Hi, Here are a couple of links that should help you to answer your questions: http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Definitions/why-corrosion.htm http://www.infoplease.com/cig/science-fair-projects/metal-corrodes-fastest.html Also, check out the Bibliography section on the following web page - there are ...

Hi,

Most bacteria grow best at body temperature (37 C). See the following links for further info:

http://secure.sciencecompany.com/Bacter ... 4C659.aspx
http://www.disknet.com/indiana_biolab/b062.htm

Please let us know if you have any further questions.

Mary

Hi,

Please see the following link regarding the use of vertebrate animals. You need to make sure that you have the appropriate approvals, if necessary, BEFORE you start your experiment.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... mals.shtml

Mary

Hello, If you google “common household bacteria” you will get several links that may be helpful. Some interesting ones are listed below: http://soundmedicine.iu.edu/segment/37/Hidden-Household-Bacteria http://www.medbroadcast.com/health_news_details.asp?news_channel_id=1020&news_id=3370 http://w...

Hello,

Could you please be a little more specific - "area" of what? Do you mean which area of the world has more bacteria or area of the body or some other area? Please let me know and I will try and answer your question and suggest some links for you.

Thanks,
Mary

Hello,

Do you have access to a heating block or a heating water bath? If so, you could set the heat block or the water bath to the appropriate temperature and then incubate your tube for extended periods of time.

Hope this helps,

Mary

Hello, I just wanted to check and see how things were going with your J774 cells. I routinely work with mouse macrophages and have attached a link to an optimized protocol for another murine macrophage cell line (RAW 264.7) that should work for J774 cells also - see below. Sigma protocols are genera...

Hello, I would recommend that you check out the following links to Science Buddies science fair project ideas: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/recommender_interest_area.php?ia=Soc https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/recommender_interest_area.php?ia=HumBeh This s...

Hello, For this experiment, I would recommend that you use plants rather than fish. You do not want to harm the fish during the experiment by stressing them and causing them to die. You can buy aquatic plants and pH kits at a pet store that will allow you to adjust the pH of your water in your diffe...

Hi there,

You start by looking at the following link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

Hope this helps!
Mary

Hi there, I would recommend starting with some research – look up what kinds of bacteria are typically found in a human’s mouth or in a dog’s mouth and what types of media these bacteria typically grow on. I would recommend using a rich media to start with that will allow growth of many differ...

Hi there, Most nitrogen-fixing bacteria are found in the soil, some are found in association with plants (often with root nodules). See the following links for a more thorough explanation. http://helios.bto.ed.ac.uk/bto/microbes/nitrogen.htm http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/N/N...

Hi Sareena, I am not an immunologist, but here is how I understand lectin-like domains and vascular addressins. Both are cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) that are important in cell-cell attachment. Selectins are CAMs that resemble lectins (i.e. are lectin-like) in that they can bind carbohydrates (sug...

Hi Shannon, It would be helpful to have some information about what you have already done. However, here are some thoughts that come to mind after glancing over the articles from the links below – Three things you could consider monitoring are heart rate, breathing rate and blood pressure before a...

Hi mmb11,

Try Zero Blunt PCR Cloning Kit (Invitrogen cat# K2750-20) $155.

Hope this helps.

Mary

Hi there, Here are a few links that might be helpful to you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose http://www.nzmaths.co.nz/Number/crosscurricular/solubility.aspx http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/canopy/2525/crystals/ https://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/plugin_solutions.shtml http://wwwcsi.un...

Hi again, I did a google search to try and determine the yield of DNA from tissue samples - see page 3 of the link below: http://www1.qiagen.com/literature/brochures/Gen_DNA_Pur/1019469_BROS_DNYTi_p5_7.pdf From 25 mg of animal liver the yield is approx 10-30 ug (micro-grams) of DNA using the kit des...