Fantastic Fingerprints at Imperial Festival

A selection of fingerprint results

Visitors flocked to the Superbug Zone to see if there was bacteria living on their fingertips

The Bacterial Fingerprint stand was run by Dr Elita Jauneikaite, post doctoral Researcher at the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit within the Superbug Zone. Visitors were invited to grow their own bacterial fingerprint by placing their fingers onto an agar plate.  Participants were given a unique number for their plate and the plate was then incubated for a day or two to see what grows.  Digital photos were taken of the plates and the images have been made available on our website so participants can see what grew on their plate from their fingerprints. 

There were also digital images of bacteria growing on plates on display on the day so that the visitors could see what might grow and encouraged discussion with the demonstrators.

All participants were emailed to view their results online explaining that there is a number of different bacteria harmlessly living on your hands. This is identified by the size and shape of the bacterial colonies seen on the plates (bacterial colony are those round bunches visible on the agar that is formed by the same type of bacteria living together). 

The pictures from the agar plates with your fingerprints are available at the following link https://www.facebook.com/SuperBugZoneImperialScienceFestival/ where participants can view their numbered agar plates, as well as other examples of agar plates with bacterial growth.

The feedback from participants who saw their results online was very positive and encouraging  –

Thank you for making science so interesting for everybody… my daughter loves it!

Thank you so much for this, it's amazing!