Assessment and verification of commercially available pressure cookers for laboratory sterilization.

ABSTRACT: Laboratory science requires careful maintenance of sterile reagents and tools as well as the sterilization of waste prior to disposal. However, steam autoclaves typically used for this purpose may not be readily accessible to everyone in the scientific community, such as K-12 teachers, researchers in the field, students in under-funded laboratories, or persons in the developing world who lack funding and resources. This work examines the use of commercial electric pressure cookers as an alternative method for the sterilization of media, instruments, and waste. Four commonly available brands of pressure cooker were tested for their ability to sterilize microbiological media, a variety of metal instruments, and high-titer microbial cultures. All four pressure cookers were able to sterilize t

SUBMITTER: Swenson VA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6289433 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature