Ciliate Challenge
Objective:
The objective of this lab is to practice using the dissecting microscopes to observe ciliates, and by doing so, learn how to identify unknown ciliates using photos and descriptions. By learning to use the microscope, it will become easier to record the results in the form of a photograph or sketch.
procedure:
- obtain a clean 24- welled plate and distinguish/label wells that will contain each sample
- if working with a group, separate the 6 samples among each of the group members
- in separate wells, use designated pipets to extract the samples from the test tubes and fill the appropriate wells with no more than halfway full (careful not to cross-contaminate the samples)
- place the samples under the microscope (adjusting as necessary) and record your findings into the lab notebook.
- based on your results, make an educated guess and name the ciliate that you have studied (a total of 6 guesses)
results:
conclusion:
the samples that I worked on (5 and 6) seemed to be contaminated (whether that contamination be due to bleach residue or mistakes made by cross-contamination in the class before) and were therefore unresponsive and very difficult to accurately identify. Sample 5 seemed to be contaminated with a different ciliate species which made it rather difficult to find the exact one we were looking for. Sample 6 ciliates were deemed to have been a result of a “poorly washed” well plate. Bleach is sprayed in the wells after each use to prevent the cross contamination of specimens by ensuring that no sample was left behind (the bleach kills ciliates), and if not properly rinsed and dried, the bleach could remain behind and negatively impact results. the other samples were easier to identify and were more responsive than samples 5 and 6. I am confident that the skills I learned with the microscopes as well as the knowledge of taking the extra precaution while washing my wells will aid in better results in the next lab.
I am so sorry that the table is blurry on the PDF, I inserted a link to the table incase it is illegible