Lessons Learned

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So I started my project and realized that all my timelines would be busted. When I started mapping out the microbiome by skin type, I knew it would be a lot of work. However, my 8 year old self has dreams of changing the world. Who am I to say that she shouldn't at least try. Anyway, my older and wiser self  just wanted to share the important lessons I've learned so far. 

If you are using the Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, then there are 3 tests you should run right after gram staining: 1) test for oxygen requirements (facultative, anaerobic, aerobic), 2) test for catalase, and 3) determine if the bacteria can ferment carbohydrates (start with glucose 'cause it's already in the refrigerator). This book highlights in bold black letters, the results of these 3 tests at the beginning of every chapter. 

The other lesson I learned concerns the order in which I ran the tests. I grouped the bacteria by whether they were gram negative or positive regardless of the skin type. That was mistake because the bacteria within a microbiome are more alike than bacteria between microbiomes. If I had done it that way, I could have run very similar tests for each area of the face and run additional tests according to the specific requirements mentioned earlier. This would have saved a lot of time. 

Just wanted to share.



Comments

  1. Kassandra BarreraMarch 22, 2018 at 11:52 AM

    Hello Rolanda! I hope you are having fun doing all these different tests! I like how you broke it done into the different tests and explained how each test is done. I didn't have he chance to use gram staining but it sounds really fascinating!

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