Monday, September 23, 2013 could be my breakthrough day in the lab…or it could all be a fake. When I entered the lab I soon discovered that I had a possible plaque on my soil #3 arthrobacter sample! Though there is only a slim chance that it is actually phage, it is still exciting. One problem I am encountering though is contamination. On September 18, I prepared two plates. One used all three soil samples, with SMEG. My other plate consisted only of soil sample 3, with Arthrobacter. My SMEG plate was horribly contaminated. However, on this plate I put a control (plain phage buffer), and even that was contaminated. Therefore, that means that it was actually my phage buffer that was contaminated – which is not normal. Also, even with my Arthrobacter plate, there was contamination, but under the contamination there was possible plaque growth. I am excited to see my plates tomorrow. On Monday I picked the possible plaque – therefore, tomorrow will be the moment of truth as to whether or not it is actually a phage. On Monday I also re-spotted soil 1 and 2 with Arthrobacter. Therefore, I will see if any possible plaques arose on that!