Bacillus spp.

This one threw me for a loop, I thought I had found some filamentous bacteria like Actinomycetes, but I did a little more research (books in the lab and online research) and talked to my manager who informed me that when a Bacillus culture is contaminated they can bunch together and form chains like these.

Bacillus spores

This Bacillus spp. culture had me SO EXCITED because its difficult to find such clearly defined spores when you're not performing a spore specific stain. See them?

I was running around the lab showing everyone because I've looked at dozens of Bacillus cultures this week and had the hardest time finding at least one spore, this was like Christmas!

Bacillus subtilis

These gram positive bacilli were struck from a known ATCC culture of Bacillus subtilis on TSA. Occasionally we can see spores but they are sometimes difficult to find since our cultures are usually only incubated for 24 hours.

Staphylococcus aureus

Gram stain of a known ATCC (American Type Culture Collection) culture of Staphylococcus aureus on TSA (Tryptic Soy Agar).

Staphylococcus epidermidis

This gram stain was an unknown isolate. After running further tests, it was identified it as Staphylococcus epidermidis, a common bacteria found on skin.