Do a simple measurement

Your first bacterial measurement, summarized to key steps.

This mini-course shows you how to run a simple measurement. It uses an E. coli Vitroids™ disc as a sample. If in doubt, refer to the full tutorial, Do a simple measurement. To measure a bacterial culture, see Measure a dense culture.

Where you start: a soluble E. coli Vitroids™ disc. Where you end: a cell count on BactoBox®.

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1

Get things ready

You need a BactoBox® setup with a flow cell, an E. coli Vitroids™ disc, a ready-to-use dilution vial, a disinfection vial, a P200 pipette, and a vortex mixer.

2

Transfer the disc to diluent

Label a small vial, add 110 µL BactoBox® diluent, tap the Vitroids™ disc into it, and cap it tightly. Measure within 15 minutes.

Tap the Vitroids™ disc into the diluent.

3

Disaggregate the bacteria

Vortex 1 minute at maximum speed until the disc is fully dissolved with no visible clumps.

One minute of vigorous vortexing gives a single-cell suspension.

4

Dilute 1:100

Transfer 101 µL of your sample into 10 mL diluent, suspend ×10 to rinse the tip, and vortex 10 seconds.

A single 1:100 dilution hits the working range.

5

Measure

Move the tubing kit to the 1:100 vial, press Measure, and wait for the result. Write down the cells/mL and total/mL before you start the next action.

Press Measure and wait for the two concentrations.

6

Clean

Move the tubing kit to the disinfection vial and press Clean. Always clean after a measurement.

Finish with a Clean.

Multiply the reading by the dilution factor to get the concentration of your undiluted suspension.

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Do it yourself

That is the whole loop. The full tutorial walks you through the disc, the diluent, and the calculation, step by step.

Do a simple measurement