Let the games begin. May the odds be ever in our favor *mockingjay whistle*...

This week was a lot more of a challenge than it was last week. After being provided with an unknown bacteria, I proceeded with the streaking method to figure out what my bacteria is. After leaving it in the incubator for 24 hours, I inoculated from the Petri dish to a microscope slide. Before that, however, I first drew a circle on the slide with a wax pencil, then made a drop DI water inside the circle. After that, i mixed the inoculated bacteria with the DI water. Then, I covered the slide with a paper towel and using wooden tongs, placed the slide on boiling water for 6 minutes; making drops of Malachite Green every 30 seconds. Malachite green is used to stain the potential spores of the bacteria, and the heat is needed to open up the spores. After the 6 minutes were up, I picked the paper towel up from the slide and rinsed the slide with DI water, then proceeded to add the Safranin and leave it for 60 seconds. The next step was to observe the slide under a microscope. After confirming the microbe had endospores, I used a MAC plate to confirm it is in fact gram positive bacteria. I did that by smearing some bacteria on the plate and leaving it in incubation for 24 hours. After confirming, I had to find out what the bacteria actually is so I Needed to perform one last test on a glucose tube and an MSA plate. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find out today as I have to leave the microbe in the glucose tube and MSA plate for 24 hours in incubation. So stay tuned for final results...