We set out, equipped with a sterile cotton tipped applicator, a test tube of nutrient broth, and an agar plate labeled with our initials and sample location.
We found our desired handrail, dipped the cotton applicator in the broth (which was capped the entire time we did not need it), swabbed the railing, and streaked the agar plate.
Back inside, we disposed of the contaminated cotton applicator in the biohazard waste bag, returned the nutrient broth to its rack, and placed the agar plate of our sample in the incubator at 25 degrees.
Unfortunately, after 24-48 hours of incubation, our bacteria had not formed colonies.
We are not sure why, but we wonder if the agar plate was faulty, since it sounded like others had this problem, too.
However, after 4 days, our bacteria did finally form colonies! We are very excited. Perhaps we had a slow-growing bacteria, or perhaps the bacteria would have thrived better at a different incubation temperature.
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