Hi,
I am new to working in NSW and am wondering what can we use in schools in regards to living specimens?
I am interested in getting Slime Moulds, Fruit Flies, various types of protozoa and invertebrates and some bacteria broths such as e.coli and Staph. If anyone could tell me if we can have these in schools in NSW and guidelines we need to stick to that would be great. Thank you.
Regards,
Kerri
Living specimens allowed in schools?
Re: Living specimens allowed in schools?
If you are working in a NSW govt school the Chemical Safety in Schools Manuals Vol II has a lot of info that covers most stuff you will do.
- Lis
- Posts: 362
- Joined: 01 Jun 2006, 10:00
- Job Title: Laboratory Technician
- School: Central Coast Grammar
- Suburb: Erina Heights
- State/Location: NSW
Re: Living specimens allowed in schools?
Hi Kerri,
Just curious, why do you want to culture your own E coli & Staph broths? They can be bought when you need them from Southern Biological.
We have just got some very cute baby stick insects, we have axolotls which we have sucessfully bred and we are getting a water dragon. I am wondering what a slime mould is though. Have a look at the attached web site, I hope it is a safe one to post.
http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/animalsinschools/
Cheers
Lisa
Just curious, why do you want to culture your own E coli & Staph broths? They can be bought when you need them from Southern Biological.
We have just got some very cute baby stick insects, we have axolotls which we have sucessfully bred and we are getting a water dragon. I am wondering what a slime mould is though. Have a look at the attached web site, I hope it is a safe one to post.
http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/animalsinschools/
Cheers
Lisa
-
- Posts: 50
- Joined: 10 May 2011, 12:26
- Job Title: Lab Technician
- School: The Geelong College - Middle School
- State/Location: VIC
Re: Living specimens allowed in schools?
We are just buying the broths already made from Southern Biological and jsut them to innoculate plates so the students can see what they look like.
Slime mould is pretty cool. Should check it out on the Southern Biological website. Have used before and really good for junior science. Grows so quick and is harmless and good to conduct their own reserach experiment.
Slime mould is pretty cool. Should check it out on the Southern Biological website. Have used before and really good for junior science. Grows so quick and is harmless and good to conduct their own reserach experiment.
- Lis
- Posts: 362
- Joined: 01 Jun 2006, 10:00
- Job Title: Laboratory Technician
- School: Central Coast Grammar
- Suburb: Erina Heights
- State/Location: NSW
Re: Living specimens allowed in schools?
Cool I will have a look.
We buy the cultures in too. There was a good recipe on here for peppercorn infusion which is Bacillus subtilis bacteria. I havent tried it yet but we will this year, safer than E coli etc, may be good for a comparison?
We buy the cultures in too. There was a good recipe on here for peppercorn infusion which is Bacillus subtilis bacteria. I havent tried it yet but we will this year, safer than E coli etc, may be good for a comparison?
- Wato
- Posts: 29
- Joined: 07 May 2007, 10:00
- School: Hennessy Catholic College
- Suburb: Young
- State/Location: NSW
Re: Living specimens allowed in schools?
We are about to breed fruit flies for genetics. I was wondering the same thing but after correspondence with the Dept of Primary Industries, the fruit flies you can buy from Southern Biological are fine as long as you don't breed the "true" fruit fly which originates from QLD.
-
- Posts: 50
- Joined: 10 May 2011, 12:26
- Job Title: Lab Technician
- School: The Geelong College - Middle School
- State/Location: VIC
Re: Living specimens allowed in schools?
Cool thank you so much for all the replies. Very helpful.