Fall 2023: Week 9

Hi Everyone, In the lovely picture above, I compare suspended bacteria to a "standard" called 0.5 McFarland standard. It's supposed to help guestimate the amount of colony-forming bacteria per milliliter. IT HAS BEEN A SIGNIFICANT PAIN IN THE BEHIND. First, it took a lot of work to understand exactly what the McFarland standard was. Josh and I tried ignoring it (1. because we didn't have it, 2. because what is it?), but it kept popping up in the research articles I had been reading. Eventually, we decided to ask our nearest microbiologist, Dr. Robinson. Turns out she also had no idea what this "standard" was. So we had it ordered, just to see that it's a little tube and card (smh). I don't think it made a significant difference in my research. However, for the purpose of science, it was nice to have. Based on the standard, there is around 5x10^5 colony forming units/ml in the bacteria tube.