12 pages
Lab Protocols
A sequence of protocols for sampling, plating, purification, lysates, DNA work, host range, and phage characterization.
- 01 · Project introduction Program question, host strains, and phage discovery overview.
- 02 · Pipetting exercises Practice with volumes, technique, and accuracy before plaque and titer experiments begin.
- 03 · Basic techniques Core microbiology practices for sterile work, bacteria, media, and safe bench habits.
- 04 · Acquiring and processing environmental samples How samples are collected, labeled, filtered, and prepared for screening.
- 05 · Direct plating of environmental samples First-pass plaque hunting on host bacterial lawns.
- 06 · Phage enrichment Increasing the chance of finding phages from environmental samples.
- 07 · Phage purification Turning a plaque into a clean isolate through repeated purification.
- 08 · Preparing high titer lysates for DNA extraction Building enough phage stock for DNA extraction and characterization.
- 09 · Extracting phage genomic DNA Preparing DNA from high-titer lysates for digest and sequencing work.
- 10 · Restriction digest Checking phage DNA and comparing digest patterns.
- 11 · Phage killing experiment Testing how phages affect bacterial growth across conditions.
- 12 · Host range experiments Comparing which bacterial strains are sensitive or resistant to each phage.