I chose this title because I have being asked to describe some of the techniques that I have learned since I started my research. Since I joined the team, every working day has become a refreshing experience because I had to dust off my microbiology laboratory manuals and began working with some basic techniques like identifying unknown bacterial cultures and isolating bacteria from different sampling sources from the environment. I had worked with preparation of selective culture mediums and the design of dichotomous trees for the identification of specific and intended enterococcus species found in fresh and marine water.

In order to work on identifying the bacteria isolated from water samples I had to conduct many biochemical tests that required learning staining techniques, tests for identifying metabolic pathways of microorganisms, and motility capabilities. To accurately conduct and evaluate the validly of my results I had to learn to use many laboratory equipment.

Some of the laboratory equipment that I learned to use this semester was the bacteriological hood, water baths, centrifuge, pH meter, autoclave, thermo cycler and the electrophoresis chamber. This equipment helps us in indentifying phenotypic and genotypic characteristic that differentiate species among the genus Enterococcus. These are the tools that will help us to create enterococcus communal profiles that will allow us to compare one ecosystem with others in order to identify possible contamination sources.