What happens to your swab when it arrives at Adam’s lab?

From your doorstep to our discovery work.

When your swab arrives at our laboratory, we test it for bacteria and fungi that might produce future antibiotics.

How we test your swab

We grow the microbes from your swab

First, we culture what’s on your swab using Petri dishes filled with sterile nutrient agar (a gel that helps microbes grow). We gently streak your swab across the agar and leave it for a few days so any bacteria or fungi can grow.

We separate and grow different colonies

Once we can see clear growth, we select individual colonies. Colonies can look very different — they may vary in colour, shape and texture, so we choose a good mix from each swab to capture as much diversity as possible.

We grow them in liquid and test them

We carry out the work using sterile techniques to reduce the risk of contamination from microbes in the air or on our skin. We then grow the selected colonies in a liquid broth for a couple of days.

Next, we test your bacteria and fungi against bacteria and yeast that we already know are resistant to antibiotics. If any of your organisms can kill these resistant microbes, Adam stores them for further research into new antibiotics.