Prepare sample

After ~16 hours of incubation, the overnight culture is at a high cell concentration and we can use it to demonstrate BactoBox® measurements on concentrated bacterial suspensions.

Vortex thoroughly and vigorously

BactoBox is a flow cytometer and works best when cells are present in a single-cell suspension.

Cells stick together and you need thorough disaggregation to prepare a single-cell suspension.

One minute of vortexing may sound excessive, but trust us. You need it!

Step by step

1

Get a sample of the culture

Make figure-eight swirls to suspend the culture

Use a serological pipette to aspirate 2 mL culture.

Transfer to a 5 or 15 mL centrifuge vial.

2

Disaggregate clumps of bacteria

Vortex the sample 1 minute at max speed.

Ensure that a proper vortex is seen inside the tube when vortexing.

Summary

You retrieved a sample of the overnight culture and used vortex mixing to disaggregate clumps of bacteria. Proceed to Dilute and measure to determine cell concentration with BactoBox®.