Bacteria Tests

The purpose of the following experiment was to determine if different belts made from different materials and with different textures could pick up bacteria.

1. Mix a solution of water and 5mL E. coli into 5 separate beakers.
2. Dip each belt into a separate beaker of the previous solution for 3 seconds and remove.
3. Scrape removed solution onto separate plates, and let bacteria grow overnight in an incubator.
4. Count bacterial colonies next day of each plate if possible. Judge which belt picked up most bacteria based on plate observation and rank from greatest to worst for inability to pick up bacteria (highest rank indicating least amount of bacteria picked up, i.e. less colonies observed).

The following protocol tests whether we could potentially utilize UV radiation to kill bacteria. This assay also allowed us to roughly determine the UV radiation exposure time necessary to ensure the bacteria were killed.

1. Submerge belts in a bacterial solution for 5 minutes.
2. Expose the belts to UV radiation for 5 minutes (highest setting on the UV machine).
3. Plate on individual petri dishes using solutions scraped off each belt using aseptic technique.
4. Expose the belts to UV radiation for another 5 minutes.
5. Plate on individual petri dishes using solutions scraped off each belt using aseptic technique
6. Expose the belts to UV radiation for an additional 5 minutes.
7. Plate on individual petri dishes using solutions scraped off each belt using aseptic technique