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Sterile & Lab Equipment
Sterile Swabs
A dry sterile rayon swab in a screw-cap tube. Use it to lift spores from a print or gills and smear them onto agar, or to take a sample for a contamination check.
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Sold singly. Take a few if you plan to streak more than one plate.
Synthetic and low-lint, with none of the fatty acids that cotton can shed onto a culture
Sterilised for single use and sealed in its tube, ready to use straight from the wrapper
One swab, one job, then bin it; no rinsing or re-using
The short version
A sterile swab is a rayon-tipped stick in a capped plastic tube. The tip is dry, with no liquid or gel medium, so nothing it carries onto your agar interferes with the culture.
You use it to pick spores off a print or off the gills of a fresh cap, then smear them onto an agar plate to start a culture. The same swab is handy for taking a sample from a surface or a colony when you want to check whether something has gone wrong.
What it is
A dry sterile swab, nothing more
This is a single rayon swab on a plastic shaft, sealed in a screw-cap tube and sterilised for single use, by ethylene oxide gas or gamma irradiation. The tip is rayon rather than cotton on purpose. Cotton fibres can release fatty acids that slow or stop the growth of some organisms, so it is not a safe choice for starting a culture. Rayon is a clean, low-lint fibre made from purified wood pulp, and it does not do this, and it is low-lint, so it does not shed fibres onto your plate.
It is dry. Hospital transport swabs usually sit in a liquid or gel transport medium, which is meant to keep a sample alive in transit, not to start a culture. This one has no medium, so nothing extra lands on your agar. The tube keeps the swab clean before use and gives you somewhere to write the strain and date.
How to use it
From spore print to agar
Work in a still air box or in front of a flow hood, with clean hands and a wiped-down surface. Keep the tip away from everything until it touches the print or the plate.
Open the tube
Unscrew the cap and lift the swab out by the shaft. Do not touch the tip with your fingers or let it brush the surface.
Pick up the spores
Wipe the tip gently across a spore print, or across the gills of a fresh mature cap. The spore deposit will cling to the rayon. A dry swab holds less than a damp one, so do not expect a heavy load.
Streak the plate
Lift the lid of your agar plate just enough and draw the swab lightly across one edge of the surface. Press only hard enough to leave a trace; do not dig into the agar.
Spread out for single colonies
For isolated growth rather than a solid smear, flame a loop, cool it, and draw it out from the swabbed patch in a few passes so the spores thin out. Then tape or parafilm the plate, label it, and incubate. Bin the used swab and use a fresh one for the next plate.
A swab can also be dabbed onto a microscope slide with a drop of water under a cover slip, or wiped over a suspect spot to lift a sample for a contamination check.
Good to know
Storage and what it is not for
Keep unopened swabs in their wrapper in a cool, dark, dry place. They stay sterile until the wrapper is opened or damaged. Once a swab is out of its tube it is no longer sterile, so use it and throw it away.
This is a tool, not a culture. It does not come loaded with spores and it has no transport medium in it. If you want a swab that already carries a strain, that is a spore swab, which is a different product. This one is blank and is yours to use as you see fit.
| Tip | Rayon, low-lint |
|---|---|
| Shaft | Plastic |
| Tube | Screw-cap plastic, writable |
| State | Dry, no transport medium |
| Sterilisation | Single-use sterile, by ethylene oxide gas or gamma irradiation |
| Use | Single-use, sterile until opened |
Common questions
Frequently asked
No. It is a blank sterile swab. You use it to lift spores from your own print or cap, or to take a sample.
Transport medium is meant to keep a sample alive in transit, not to start a culture. A dry swab keeps your agar clean.
Cotton fibres can release fatty acids that slow or stop some growth. Rayon is a clean synthetic that does not, and it sheds fewer fibres.
No. Once opened it is no longer sterile. Use a fresh swab for each plate or each check.
Not on its own. A swab usually leaves a smear. For isolated colonies, swab one patch then carry on with a flamed loop to thin the spores out.
One per plate or per sample. Take a few if you plan to streak several plates in one session.
Sealed in their wrapper, somewhere cool, dark and dry. They keep until opened.
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