Glorious Microbial Media Portrait Gallery
Chiefs: Fernando Rojo, Patricia Bernal, Zeynep Ceren Karahan, Ken Timmis
Microbes are by definition invisible, so by definition cannot possibly be beautiful, right? WRONG! When we render them visible by microscopy, some of them are achingly beautiful – not all of course: like humans, they are very diverse in their appearance. And then some form visible multicellular structures or communities which have their own special beauty. And then again, some of the tools and materials we use to study microbes create combobeauty: beauty resulting from the combination. One of these is the use of dyes to colour microbes, either for microscopy or for visual inspection. The beauty of dyed microbes is well recognized by the experts in beauty: the artists, who are increasingly experimenting and creating original art with dyed microbes.Explore Microbial Art Smithsonian Article on Microbial Art Microbial beauty can become exceptional when it additionally provides us with important information. One such example is the media of the clinical microbiology lab, which diagnoses our infections. These media are incredibly diverse and colourful, and interrogate a wide range of diagnostic properties of the microbes that land on them. What they do on such media is interpreted by the clever clinical microbiologist to identify or rule out suspected pathogens in the samples provided.
Let’s discover the Glorious Microbial Media, their beauty and the beauty of the bugs that grow on them, and how their key ingredients inform about the likely causes of our infections or other important things we need to know. And, while we are at it, let’s discover beautiful media used by other clever microbiologists to investigate their favourite bugs and samples.