Biohack Academy #6, Final Presentation on April 2, 2019

Microbe Portraiture

There are millions of microbes that live on our skin but they are invisible. In this project, I want to make a visible portrait of microbes living on my face. I physically touched various parts of my facial skin for 10-30 sec with agar plates and documented the microbes.

Materials

• Nutrient Agar (Ager 65.2%, Peptones 21.7%, Beef Extract 13%) Carolina Biological Supply Company
• Yeast Malt Agar Carolina Biological Supply Company
• Distilled Water
• Petri Dish

Test #1 – 1, Cheek

Both plates had minimum amount of microbes. It has been in an incubator for more than 24 hours at 30°C.

Detail shot of Nutrient Agar plate

Test #1 – 2, Lips

Both plates had minimum amount microbes. It has been in an incubator for more than 24 hours at 30°C. After “kissing” first plate on the left, I unconsciously wiped and cleaned my lips. As a result, the plate on the right doesn’t have much growth at all.

Detail shot of Yeast Malt plate. Shape of my lips are clear through microbes.

After first testing, my incubator stopped working but I managed to finish proper wirings and internals for second testing.

Test #2 – 1, Cheek

Only Nutrient Agar plates were used for second testing. The incubator was set at 37°C for 24 hours. Also I intentionally didn’t wash my face for more than 24 hours.

Right side of my face on the left and left side on the right. Both had more visible growth than Test #1. Especially there is a different type of microbe on the right plate.

Test #2 – 2, Lips

Test #2 – 3, Ear

Test #2 – 4, Hair

Test #2 – 5, Tongue

Test #2 – 6, Forehead

Forehead area had most growth than any other areas of my face. Maybe because forehead tends to be oily, I think this part is prone to host more microbes than other areas.

Detail shot