Contact Lenses

[deleted-94793]

Hello,

I will be using a gram-negative bacteria in my experiment. Due to Saftey concerns I can not use the incubator at my lab to culture the bacteria. My mentor offered me the use of a refrigerator what should I do?

Thanks

[donnahardy2]

Hi John1010,

Your bacteria will grow better at a higher temperature. Can you use ambient temperature to grow the bacteria, and then store the bacteria in the refrigerator for longer term storage? What kind of bacteria will you be growing? Do you know what the optimum incubation temperature is?

Donna Hardy

[deleted-94793]

Sorry for the late response. I am using Staphylococcus Epidermidis. I can not find exact information on the bacteria. I also need to know where to purchase it.

Many Thanks

[deleted-94793]

Hello,

I am working with lysozyme and Lactoferrin and contact. Lens is there anyone who has experience researching in this field or can forward me to someone else.

[sunmoonstars]

Hi John, I don't have any experience directly with lysozym and contact lenses, but I may still be able to help if I knew your question. Could you give a little more information about your project and what you need help with please?

Thanks,
Tonya

[deleted-80002]

Hi John1010,

S. epidermidis is a species of bacteria that commonly colonizes the skin of humans. It can cause infections if it gains access to the lower levels of skin through a cut or abrasion. Usually this occurs in hospital patients with thing like catheters. S. epidermidis is a Gram-positive bacteria; you mentioned you were using a Gram-negative bacteria. Are you sure you are using S. epidermidis? Here are a couple pages about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staphylococcus_epidermidis
http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php ... pidermidis

Since it colonizes the skin S. epidermidis is best grown at 37C. But it will probably also grow at room temperature just a bit more slowly. Some genes is bacteria are controlled by temperature, especially genes that encode for virulence factors. SO if you are studying one of these growing the bacteria at 37C will be essential. Most bacteria will not grow at 4C (in a refrigerator) that is why we store food at that temperature.

Most bacteria can be purchased in pure culture from ATCC http://www.atcc.org/. Although they tend to be very expensive. You can also ask researchers to send you this strain if you know someone who works on it.

Kierstyn

[donnahardy2]

Hi,

Kierstyn has given you some really good information about S. epidermidis and some helpful safety advice. I have some additional precautions to add if you do work with this microorganism. I think that you will need to complete a risk assessment through your local safety review committee. Here is the link that includes all of the details:

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

I think it would be helpful if you could let us know more details about your project idea. If you want to work with a Gram-positive bacterium, perhaps you could Micrococcus luteus, which is available for about $10 plus shipping from Carolina Biologicals. This organism is a Gram-positive spherical bacterium, but is not closely related to S. epidermidis and is usually found in soil and dust. If you do need a Gram-negative organism, they have several varieties available. It would save time if you could use an organism that is not considered to be a biological hazard.

http://www.carolina.com/product/living+ ... y=ourPicks

Micrococcus luteus has an optimum temperature of 30 degrees Centigrade and will grow more slowly at ambient room temperature.

Donna Hardy

[donnahardy2]

Hi John,

We can help you better if you will post all of your questions in one topic. I will ask the moderator to move this inquiry to your original topic, "Storing Microorganisms in a Refrigerator or Incubator?"

And I completely agree with Tonya. We can help you if you will explain more about your project. What do you want to accomplish with your project? What have you learned in your background reading? Here is the project guide outline from the Science Buddies website. What you want to do is ask a unique question that you can answer with a carefully controlled experiment. And the subject of lysozyme, lactoferrin and contact lenses sound very intriguing and definitely has prize-winning potential.

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

So first, what is your research question?


Donna Hardy

[deleted-94793]

Hello,

Thanks so much for all the help. Actually after talking it over with my mentor I am using a new microbial agent, Fusarium keratitis a fungus. I have searched the internet for hours as well as pubmed and have found very little on how to culture and purchase this fungus. Also does anyone know what biosaftey lab I need to work with this microbial in? Mabye we should start this in a new thread??

Many Thanks

[donnahardy2]

Hi John,

It sounds like you are making good progress on your project by identifying a specific problem to work on. There was an outbreak of Fusarium eye infections associated with contact lens solution a few years ago. Here is a website that includes good information about Fusarium infections.

http://www.doctorfungus.org/aboutdrf/le ... sarium.php

Here is a website that describes risk levels of different microorganisms. Since Fusarium species are not listed in any of the risk categories, I believe that they are in Risk Group 1 agents, which are agents not associated with disease in healthy adult humans. Fusarium has been associated with infections in immunosupppressed patients, and it was associated with the keratitis outbreak probably because it was growing in the contact lens solution before people used it.

http://www.lbl.gov/ehs/biosafety/manual ... ppxB.shtml

Fusarium is the generic name of the fungus; there are many different species of this organism. Keratitis is an acute eye infection, so you will not be able to find an organism called Fusarium keratitis. Fusarium oxysporum is a common plant pathogen, so if you notice any wilted plants, for example a tomato plant, you might be able to isolate it from the plant tissue. Or, if you have a local college or university with a plant pathology department, you might be able to obtain a culture locally. Or, contact the mycology department at a university.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusarium_oxysporum

Also, Carolina Biologicals offers Fuasrium oxysporum for $10.05. If you order the culture, make sure you have a lab and media available to maintain your stock culture.

http://www.carolina.com/product/eurotiu ... estMatches

And, please do not start a new thread. You have 3 experts who will be see your questions in this new merged topic, and we're all happy to share information that will help you develop a successful science fair project. So just let us know if you have any more questions.

Donna Hardy

[deleted-94793]

Thank you so much you are so helpfull!!!

[donnahardy2]

Hi John,

You are welcome! What are you going to do for your experiment? Are you going to find out how Fusarium could grow in contact lens solution? Or, are you going to find out what to do to prevent it from growing? What is your research question? How are you going to measure your results? What will your independent variable be?

Here’s the step-by-step guide for doing a science project:

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

Donna