Swabs and Loops

Microbiological studies involve handling and growing microorganisms in a culture medium. To ensure safe handling and efficient culture management, basic equipments used include swabs and loops. Inoculation of microbes into a culture is done with the help of an instrument known as the inoculation loop. These loops assist in retrieving an inoculum of microbe from a sample and introducing it into a new culture medium, which may be a liquid or solid media. These loops are made of platinum, tungsten or nichrome and can also be used to streak agar plates with an inoculum. Another technique to culture microbes on a solid media plate is known as spreading. Spreading is performed using an L-shaped spreader. Another important experimental procedure in microbiology is the collection of specimen swabs. To detect the presence of microbes in a certain culture, a sterile and disposable cotton swab is used. Using this method, saliva, pus and other specimen may be collected. In some cases, these swabs may be sealed or stored in a specific media to ensure survival of the microorganisms till the testing phase.

Biomall offers several products for application in microbiological studies. Spreaders, swabs and loops are some of the products available.