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Colony-forming Unit
In microbiology, colony-forming unit (CFU, cfu or Cfu) is a unit which estimates the number of microbial cells ( bacteria, fungi, viruses etc.) in a sample that are viable, able to multiply via binary fission under the controlled conditions. Counting with colony-forming units requires culturing the microbes and counts only viable cells, in contrast with microscopic examination which counts all cells, living or dead. The visual appearance of a colony in a cell culture requires significant growth, and when counting colonies, it is uncertain if the colony arose from one cell or a group of cells. Expressing results as colony-forming units reflects this uncertainty. Theory The purpose of plate counting is to estimate the number of cells present based on their ability to give rise to colonies under specific conditions of nutrient medium, temperature and time. Theoretically, one viable cell can give rise to a colony through replication. However, solitary cells are the exception in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microbiology
Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, protistology, mycology, immunology, and parasitology. Eukaryotic microorganisms possess membrane-bound organelles and include fungi and protists, whereas prokaryotic organisms—all of which are microorganisms—are conventionally classified as lacking membrane-bound organelles and include Bacteria and Archaea. Microbiologists traditionally relied on culture, staining, and microscopy. However, less than 1% of the microorganisms present in common environments can be cultured in isolation using current means. Microbiologists often rely on molecular biology tools such as DNA sequence based identification, for example the 16S rRNA gene sequence used for bacteria identification. Viruses have been variably classified as organisms, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vortex Mixer
A vortex mixer, or vortexer, is a simple device used commonly in laboratories to mix small vials of liquid. It consists of an electric motor with the drive shaft oriented vertically and attached to a cupped rubber piece mounted slightly off-center. As the motor runs the rubber piece oscillates rapidly in a circular motion. When a test tube or other appropriate container is pressed into the rubber cup (or touched to its edge) the motion is transmitted to the liquid inside and a vortex is created. Most vortex mixers are designed with 2 or 4-plate formats, have variable speed settings ranging from 100 to 3,200 rpm, and can be set to run continuously, or to run only when downward pressure is applied to the rubber piece. Use Vortex mixers are quite commonplace in bioscience laboratories. In cell culture and microbiology laboratories they may be used to suspend cells. In a biochemical or analytical laboratory they may be used to mix the reagents of an assay or to mix an experimen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spiral Plater
A spiral plater is an instrument used to dispense a liquid sample onto a Petri dish in a spiral pattern. Commonly used as part of a CFU count procedure for the purpose of determining the number of microbes in the sample.J. E. Gilchrist, J. E. Campbell, C. B. Donnelly, J. T. Peeler, and J. M. Delaney"Spiral Plate Method for Bacterial Determination" '' Appl Microbiol. '', 1973 February; 25(2): 244–252., In this setting, after spiral plating, the Petri dish is incubated for several hours after which the number of colony forming microbes (CFU) is determined. Spiral platers are also used for research, clinical diagnostics and as a method for covering a Petri dish with bacteria before placing antibiotic discs for AST. Mode of action The spiral plater rotates the dish while simultaneously dispensing the liquid and either linearly moving the dish or the dispensing tip. This creates the common spiral pattern. If all movements are done in constant speed, the spiral created would hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Error
Human error refers to something having been done that was "unintended consequences, not intended by the actor; not desired by a set of rules or an external observer; or that led the task or system outside its acceptable limits".Senders, J.W. and Moray, N.P. (1991) Human Error: Cause, Prediction, and Reduction'. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, p.25. . Human error has been cited as a primary cause contributing factor in disasters and accidents in industries as diverse as nuclear power (e.g., the Three Mile Island accident), aviation (see pilot error), space exploration (e.g., the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster and Space Shuttle Columbia disaster), and medicine (see medical error). Prevention of human error is generally seen as a major contributor to Data integrity, reliability and safety of (complex) systems. Human error is one of the many contributing causes of risk events. Definition Human error refers to something having been done that was "not intended by the actor; not desired b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CellProfiler
CellProfiler is free, open-source software designed to enable biologists without training in computer vision or programming to quantitatively measure phenotypes from thousands of images automatically. Advanced algorithms for image analysis are available as individual modules that can be placed in sequential order together to form a pipeline; the pipeline is then used to identify and measure biological objects and features in images, particularly those obtained through fluorescence microscopy. Distributions are available for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux. The source code for CellProfiler is freely available. CellProfiler is developed by the Broad Institute's Imaging Platform. Features CellProfiler can read and analyze most common microscopy image formats. Biologists typically use CellProfiler to identify objects of interest (e.g. cells, colonies, ''C. elegans'' worms) and then measure their properties of interest. Specialized modules for illumination correction may be ap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ImageJ ImageJ is a Java-based image processing program developed at the National Institutes of Health and the Laboratory for Optical and Computational Instrumentation (LOCI, University of Wisconsin). Its first version, ImageJ 1.x, is developed in the public domain, while ImageJ2 and the related projects SciJava, ImgLib2, and SCIFIO are licensed with a permissive BSD-2 license. ImageJ was designed with an open architecture that provides extensibility via Java plugins and recordable macros. Custom acquisition, analysis and processing plugins can be developed using ImageJ's built-in editor and a Java compiler. User-written plugins make it possible to solve many image processing and analysis problems, from three-dimensional live-cell imaging to radiological image processing, multiple imaging system data comparisons to automated hematology systems. I |
