Petri Dish

Petri Dish

A Petri dish (or Petrie dish) is a shallow, cylindrical, lidded dish that biologists and chemists use for the culture of microorganisms. Named after its inventor, German bacteriologist Julius Richard Petri, it is an essential tool in clinical and research laboratories.

History

Julius Richard Petri, a German bacteriologist, invented the Petri dish in 1887 while working as an assistant to Robert Koch, the "father of modern bacteriology". Petri's invention came as a solution to the problem of contamination in bacterial cultures.

Design and Usage

A standard Petri dish is made of clear glass or plastic and is approximately 100 millimeters in diameter and 20 millimeters in height. The dish's transparency allows for the observation of microbial growth without opening the lid, thus reducing the risk of contamination.

Petri dishes are filled with a growth medium, such as agar, which provides the necessary nutrients for microorganisms to grow. The dish is then sealed and incubated to allow for the growth of the microorganisms.

Applications

Petri dishes are used in a variety of scientific disciplines, including microbiology, cellular biology, and molecular biology. They are used for microbial culture, antibiotic sensitivity testing, and in the study of cell cultures.

In microbiology, Petri dishes are used to isolate and identify bacteria and fungi. In cellular biology, they are used to study the behavior of cells under different conditions. In molecular biology, Petri dishes are used in cloning and genetic engineering experiments.

See Also

• Agar plate
• Microbiology
• Cell culture
• Molecular biology

References

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