Indiana Biolab Bacteria Pages

This site has the information to enable any young Pasteur to conduct excellent microbiology experiments at home with materials found in any kitchen. Farmers, gardeners, and amateurs will find useful methods and information on these pages for science projects, family health, gardening, farming, animal care, and food preservation. Inexpensive kits of Cultures and supplies are available.

First-time visitors please click here for information moved from this page to make downloading faster. For fast browsing, Bookmark this page, then use your Back Button to return to this index as you finish looking at any page of this site.

Start Your Microbiology Science Project Here, Today!

B000 - Index page giving general safety and background information for your microbiology project. This page will help you get an outstanding bacteria project going. Also visit our yeast, fungi, and bacteriophage web sites which are in early construction.

B020 - Start your own Home Microbiology Lab by reading this index page. Introductory experiments, media, tools, and methods for beginners using foods and items found at home--few or no purchases required. B020a prints a work plan for starting your bacteria project.

B040 - Index page to Standard Methods used in Microbiology: This chapter shows you how to perform the techniques used in colleges, hospitals, and professional laboratories. The amateur microbiologist may not have access to this equipment, but these pages help him design or select substitutes so that he is able to complete many additional experiments.

B060 - Experiments on Growth Requirements of Bacteria. Effect of environmental factors on the growth of bacteria. Performing these experiments will help you understand bacteria and how to protect your food from spoilage and poisoning by bacteria . Salt, sugar, pH, oxygen level, heat, and other agents are all used to protect and preserve foods. In these experiments you will aloso learn how different genera and species of bacteria differ in their response to environmental conditions.

B090 - Beginner's Guide to Classification of the Bacteria. The section introduces the beginner to the many types of bacteria and will help students pick an interesting group for a science project. See B400 for a complete classification of the bacteria.

B100 - Food Bacteriology: Experiments with the bacteria you eat every day INCOMPLETE

B200 - Isolation of bacteria from nature based on their traits.

B400 - The Bergey Classification of Bacteria

The Bergey Classification of Bacteria into 19 parts. Some familiar genera are listed.

B800 - Medical bacteriology; move pathogenic discussions here - not ready (incomplete)

B900 - Bacterial genetics INCOMPLETE barely started.

First time Visitors Please Read This

You can easily and safely run a bacteria project at home for a few years. Such long-term projects usually win college scholarships for young scientists.

These pages were written for the young Pasteur who has an interest in microbes, but has no books, no equipment, no microbes--nothing but a desire to learn. You will find protocols for isolating bacteria from nature, descriptions of species, and useful information not found elsewhere on the Web. With this information you will be able to start you own collection of pure cultures and identify many of them, at least assign them to the correct genus. If you put in that much effort, you will probably learn as much as many students in a good college microbiology course. Likewise elementary and highschool teachers, farmers, gardeners will learn much to aid them. Eventually this site will be 20 times as large as it is today.

You do not need a microscope. Toy microscopes are useless for studying bacteria. A microscope good enough to see bacteria costs hundreds of dollars. You would have to pay over $1,000 for a microscope that would be really useful. If you want to see your bacteria, take them to school and use a microscope there. Instead of spending money on a microscope, it is better to concentrate on isolating bacteria from nature and studying their biochemical traits. Someone once told Pasteur he had called a bacterium a coccus (round) when it was actually rod-shaped. "If you only knew how little difference that makes to me," Pasteur replied.

There is no need to go out and buy lots of equipment. Begin with Home Micro Lab by making media from common kitchen foods and isolate some bacteria.

Bottles can serve as culture tubes, or your teacher may loan you culture tubes and supplies. If not try a hospital, they throw away lots of items you can use and if autoclaved they are perfectly safe. Before you trouble a hospital for gifts, do a few week's work at home and prove that you are really interested and planning to work hard. Can lids, or flat bottles can serve as petri plates. Most students only have access to plastic petri plates, but is sometimes possible to reuse them.

BA.htm - Isolation and study of Bacillus strains

CL.htm - Isolation and study of Clostridum strains

Some day there will be pages on yeasts and fungi.

You may send private e-messages to Dr. Eddleman and he will reply, usually within 24 hours.

First installed January 1998      Revision #7 1999 Sep 9      H2SO4  2 x 108 m  37o C
Bacteria Index Page | INDIANA BIOLAB Web Sites | indbio@disknet.com
Written by Harold Eddleman, Ph. D., President, Indiana Biolab, 14045 Huff St., Palmyra IN 47164

Visitors since 1998 June 8: