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Trying to study this mixed population is often difficult and in the tradition of the scientific method; researchers dissect a system and study each piece in isolation. For microorganisms this means separating the organisms and getting them into pure culture. A pure culture is defined as a growth of microorganisms (a culture) that contains one cell type. It is essential in microbiology to be able to obtain and preserve pure cultures. Over 100 years ago, Robert Koch devised methods to achieve this goal and the methods he developed are essentially still used today. The protocols used to maintain pure cultures are a major part of aseptic technique and are the subject of this chapter.

The goals of aseptic technique are two-fold. The first objective is to obtain pure cultures and secondly to prevent cross-contamination. Microorganisms in culture must not escape into the environment, and microbes in the environment must not get into the cultures we are studying. It is essential that aseptic technique be understood and practiced correctly. Contaminated cultures are worthless for diagnosis or for doing research on, because it is unclear what microbe is performing any action that is being observed.

Aseptic methods commonly used are flame sterilization, tube transfer, streak plates, spread plates and pour plates. Flame sterilization is an easy method to insure sterile transfer of a culture from a source to a growth medium. Tube transfer is useful for moving inocula from one tube to another. Mechanical dilution by making streak plates is the preferred method for obtaining a pure culture of a microorganism. Finally, spread plates and pour plates are common methods for enumerating microorganisms and are sometimes useful for obtaining isolated colonies.

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