Aseptic Technique

Key Stage 4

Meaning

Aseptic technique is a set of procedures used to make sure a culture medium is not contaminated when attempting to culture micro-organisms.

About Aseptic Technique

The following techniques are used to reduce or prevent contamination:

• Wash hands thoroughly with antiseptic before the experiment.
• Heating the inoculating loop red hot to kill any unwanted micro-organisms.
• Do not allow the inoculating loop to touch anything other than the desired micro-organisms and the culture medium.
• Keep a lid on the culture medium at all times when not adding the desired micro-organisms.
• Disinfect all surfaces in the area.
• Open the lid only enough to allow the inoculation loop to touch the surface of the culture medium.
• Avoid breathing in the direction of the inoculating loop and culture medium.
• Seal the lid over the culture medium with two strips of sellotape. However, do not make it airtight as this will cause the growth of anaerobic micro-organisms only.

References

Edexcel

Aseptic techniques, page 109, GCSE Biology, Pearson, Edexcel

Aseptic techniques, page 180, GCSE Biology, CGP, Edexcel

Aseptic techniques, page 63, GCSE Biology; The Revision Guide, CGP, Edexcel

OCR

Aseptic technique, pages 230-231, Gateway GCSE Biology, Oxford, OCR

Aseptic techniques, page 97, Gateway GCSE Biology; The Revision Guide, CGP, OCR