asetic techniques

Aseptic techniques

Definition-

Aseptic technique is defined as the series of steps used to prevent contamination during manipulation of cultures and sterile culture media.

In other words, aseptic technique are procedure that allow to handle culture and sterile culture media without introducing microbial contaminants from air, water, hands, mouth or other known sources.

Knowledge of aseptic tech is essential to obtain pure culture of microbes. Air borne contaminants are the most common in microbiology because air contains minute dust particles that will have a community of microbes over them.

Aseptic tech involves following steps:

 Avoid any contact between sample and pure culture, sterile medium and sterile surfaces of growth vessel with contaminating microorganism.

 Cleaning of surface area with disinfectant to reduce number of potential contaminants.

 Sterilization of transfer instruments.
For example- Transfer loop is sterilized by heating red hot in a Bunsen
Burner flame before and after transforming a culture.

 The transfer work is to be accomplished quickly and efficiently to minimize time of exposure of material or sample to non-sterile environment such as normal air during which contamination of the culture or lab worker can occur.