Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My daughter needs to purchase a small amount of bacteria for a science fair project and we are unsure of where a student could get vibrio harveyi and another species with the protein that makes the molecule A1-1?
Does anyone have information you could provide to help us acquire a small amount of these bacteria?

Hi,

One source of vibrio Harvey is the American Type Culture Collection:

http://www.atcc.org/CulturesandProducts ... fault.aspx

It may also be worthwhile contacting Caroline Biological Supply Co. customer service. They sell some strains of vibrio

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

http://www.carolina.com/category/custom ... tact+us.do

This firm has a good reputation for working with science fair students.

Before you you attempt to order these materials, please have answers ready for the following questions:

1) Does your student have access to a mentor and lab facilities so these materials can be safely handled?

2) Do you have a research plan mapped out?

Before any of these companies will sell to you you will have to have an established connection with a recognized institution, company, or school that can credibly safely handle them. Your sponsor may have to be the one that actually orders the material, and to whom the material is shipped. The material may need to be used soon after receipt in order for it to be viable.

If you do not already have a mentor, find one NOW! Here are some hints on doing this:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentorin ... tors.shtml

I hope this helps. You sound like you are considering a very interesting project!

Best regards,

Barrett L. Tomlinson

Hey! I would ask around at local colleges and high schools.
Many times the biology labs at places like this have some and colleges especially, usually want to help the local students with their projects.

Hope you find what you are looking for
The project sounds great

Hi Danjess,

This will be a great project. Please note that you need V. harveyii BB1170, which is missing the LuxS gene for AI-2 autoinducer. Wild type V. harveyii has the gene and will luminesce on its own.

If you are close to a university where this type of research is done, you might be able to contact a professor and request a culture.

The American Society of Microbiology has a network of volunteers that are available to help with projects. It would be very helpful if your daughter could find a mentor do her work in a microbiology laboratory.

http://www.asm.org/index.php?option=com ... Itemid=317

Donna Hardy