Lab Equipment & Instruments

Department of Laboratory Medicine

Medical Bacteriology
YEAR 3
Mr. AZIZ BOSTEEN

1
 contents

 Laboratory Safety

 Instruments in laboratory
 Before Beginning Any Laboratory Exercise

 Know the dangers associated with all

 materials you will use in this laboratory exercise

 Know the proper way of using all the materials provided for the

 exercise

 Know all the protective measures you must use during the exercise
 Personal Protection

Wear an apron or lab coat in the proper

manner

Wear gloves in the proper manner

Wear a face shield in the proper manner

Tie long hair neatly at the back of the neck

Wear shoes that enclose your entire feet

 Emergency Procedures

 Emergency Procedures

 Know where all exit doors are located

 If a reagent splashes onto your face or eyes,

 wash your face at the eyewash station for several minutes

 If an irritating or harmful reagent splashes into

 your body, use the emergency shower to wash your body for several
minutes

 Know where the fire extinguisher and fire blanket are located
 Good Laboratory Conduct

 Follow all instructions

 Do not play in the laboratory

 Do not use any laboratory equipment until you are told to do
 Do not perform any laboratory procedure until you are told to do
 Do not bring food, beverages or tobacco products into the laboratory
 Do not apply cosmetics in the laboratory
 Do not eat or drink in the laboratory
 Restrain loose clothing and jewelry
 Before You Leave The Laboratory

 Clean your workbench with disinfectant at the beginning and at

the end of the laboratory exercise

 Leave all equipment, samples and reagents in the lab

 Leave your lab coat (apron) in the lab

 Wash your hands with soap and water

 What is a Medical laboratory?

 A medical laboratory or clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests

are done on clinical specimens in order to get information about the
health of a patient as pertaining to the diagnosis, treatment, and
prevention of disease.

 Lab equipment

 Lab. equipment refers to the various tools used by scientists working in

a laboratory.
 Microscopy

What is a microscope?
 Is an optical instrument consisting of a combination of lenses which
magnifies the image of the object seen through it.
 • It is used for the morphological study of a very small organisms which
are not visible by naked eye.
 Incubator

 Is a device used to grow and maintain microbiological cultures.

 The incubator maintains optimal temperature, humidity and other conditions

such as the carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen content of the atmosphere
inside.
 Autoclave

 An autoclave is a pressure chamber used to sterilize equipment and supplies

by subjecting

 them to high pressure saturated steam at 121 °C for around 15–20 minutes
depending on the size of the load and the contents.

 Used to sterilize culture media, discard, and other equipments.

 Oven

 device used in sterilization.

 oven uses dry heat to sterilize.

 It used to sterilize items that might be damaged by moist

heat (e.g., glasswares, powders, oils).
 Laboratory refrigerator

 Is used for a wide variety of purposes such as:

 maintenance and storage of stock culture between subculturing periods.

storage of sterile media to prevent dehydration.

 also used as repository for thermolable solutions, antibiotics and

serums.
 Centrifuge

 is an apparatus that rotates at high speed and separates substances of

different densities.
 Balance

 used to measure an object’s mass to a very high degree of precision.

 hot plate / stir plate

used to heat and stir substances.

 Water bath

 is a device that maintains water at a constant temperature.

 • It is used in the microbiological laboratory for incubations.

 Biological Safety Cabinets

is an enclosed, ventilated laboratory workspace for safely working with materials

contaminated with pathogens.

Bunsen burner

is a common piece of laboratory equipment that produces a single open gas flame,

which is used for heating and sterilization.

Inoculating loops and needles

 Inoculating loops are used to transfer microorganisms to growth media or for

staining slides.

 The wire forms a small loop with a diameter of about 5 mm.

 The loop of wire at the tip may be made of platinum or nichrome.

 • Needles are straight wires (no loop) used to pick up
bacteria from closely packed colonies or to inoculate in a
very defined area.

 • needles commonly used to inoculate semi-soft media.

 Anaerobic jar

is an instrument used in the production of an anaerobic

environment.

This method of anaerobiosis is used to culture bacteria which

die or fail to grow in presence of oxygen.
 Glass slide and cover slip
 Glass slide:
used to place specimens on to observe under the microscope.
 Cover slip:
used to cover specimens on a microscope slide.
 Petri dishes
often used to make agar plates for microbiology studies.
The dish is partially filled with warm liquid containing agar and
a mixture of
specific ingredients that may include:
nutrients • blood • salts • Carbohydrates • dyes • indicators •
amino acids or antibiotics
 Pipet and Graduated Cylinders

 Glass or plastic

 Used to measure liquid volume.

 Graduated in ml.

 Test tube

 used to mix, heat or store substances.

 Test tube rack

 used to hold test tubes.

 Filter paper

 special paper used to separate solids from liquids.

 Ph meter

 It is used to determine the pH of the media prior to experiments and to

monitor pH value during experiments. The device is used especially in

the preparation of stock solutions and the culture media used for the

growth of microorganisms.

 Florence Flask

A Florence flask or boiling flask is a round-bottom borosilicate glass

container with thick walls, capable of withstanding temperature changes.

The End