Student Presenter(s): Opong Bramble
Faculty Mentor: Bryan Gibb
Department: Biological and Chemical Sciences
School/College: College of Arts and Sciences, Long Island

The study of microbes of microbes often involves growing them on petri dishes. Although some microbes are easy to see with good contract (photogenic), others are not. Complicating matters, inconsistent lighting can create glare or uneven exposures when photographed. We developed a standardized method for photographing microbes in petri dishes to ensure consistent high quality images for documentation and publication. We tested different lighting solutions to reduce glare, improve contrast and even exposure across the plate for imaging bacteriophage plaques. Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria, in an agar petri dish as they kill the bacterial host, clearings, called plaques are formed. Some phages that completely kill bacteria that they infect create clear plaques, while others do not always kill all the bacteria, so the plaques are hazy and can be difficult to see, let alone image. Through testing various scenarios the method we developed incorporates a light box and vastly improves the ability to image low contrast phage plaques, and does so consistently that can be adjusted to fit the environment in which they will be photographed.