Enterobacter aerogenes

Enterobacter aerogenes, that's the scientific name for my unknown bacterium. The last few weeks of the summer semester were spent working on unknowns! Basically, I had a broth culture of bacteria on which I had to run a series of lab tests to determine what it was. So, after all the tests were run and my four page report documenting everything had been written, it came down to Enterobacter aerogenes. Man, is my brain tired? Okay, not really! Anyway, I wanted to actually take my camera with me to class to document the whole experience because it was rather interesting but I kept forgetting my camera. (the result of 3 children nipping at my heels all the way out the door) So, instead I thought I would show you all a few pictures from my lab atlas so you could see some of the things that have kept me busy this summer. The pictures below are of different bacterial species growing on various nutrient agar plates. Overall, I came away from this class with a better understanding of microbes, pathogens, the human bodies response to invasion and the awareness of some wicked little critters that I never want to come in contact with.

So, now it's time relax a little for a few weeks and then it's on to Chemistry! Pray for my brain please!
I'll be back to more interesting things tomorrow! Thanks for stopping in!