All About Petri Dish & Uses

Petri dish is 1 of the most crucial laboratory consumable items used in biological laboratories. Petri dish is made of either glass or transparent plastic. It is a shallow cylindrical dish mainly used to culture cells.

It was named following a German bacteriologist Julius Petri, who invented it in the course of working as an assistant to Robert Koch. Petri dishes created of glass can be employed again and once more by sterilization even though the plastic petri dishes as soon as utilised can’t be employed again. They ought to be disposed of right after one use.

Petri dishes are usullay filled with a growth medium made of agar. Agar is a gelatinous substance made  with extracts from red algae and various nutrients. The nutrients added may vary according to the will need of the organism being cultured.

Uses of Petri Dishes

The main use of petri dish in a laboratory is to culture cells.

Petri dishes are utilised in schools and colleges to teach students about the seed germination. The transparent material of the petri dish helps students to observe each step of growth of seed.

The size of petri dish is excellent to be placed under a microscope so it is also used for dissection.

In laboratories, petri dishes can be utilised for basic experimental purposes such as transferring liquids in sterile containers for study.

Several other uses of petri dishes, as laboratory consumable items, are becoming explored by scientists around the world. In coming time its use is not going to be on hold or detoriate. Petri dishes have been beneficial in exploring different aspects of science, such as understanding viruses, growing cells integrated with electronic circuits, etc. It is very probable that in near future other techniques of studying organisms in lab be developed but the fundamental will need to culture organism in a sterile environment will never end and so the use of petri dishes.