Agar Art: NHL and Hockey “Culture”

In the spirit of a new NHL season starting, I created a few NHL team logos as my art pieces! I created 5 NHL team logos from different bacterial and yeast species, as well as different agar plates, and they all turned out in various degrees of success!

Before I showcase my art, I’d like to tie in the relationship between hockey and microbiology. There is a tool we use in microbiology called a cell spreader. It is commonly referred to as a “hockey stick” and it’s primary use is to evenly spread a volume of bacterial suspension across the agar plate. I provided an image of the cell spreader hockey stick in the header!

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The first plate I created is my favourite team, the Vancouver Canucks. I’ve been a huge fan of the Canucks since as long as I can remember, and I get excited for the start of every season despite how much misery they bring me. I created the original Canucks on mFC agar using E. coli (Blue) and Enterobacter species (White).

On the second plate, I used Serratia marcescens (Red) and E. coli (White) on nutrient agar to make the New Jersey Devils.

For the third plate, I used Serratia marcescens (Red) and Micrococcus luteus (Yellow) on nutrient agar to make the Calgary Flames.

For the fourth plate, I used Klebsiella pneumoniae (White) on mFC agar to make the Tampa Bay Lightning.

On the final plate, I used Serratia marcescens (Red), Rhodotorula (Pink), and E. coli (White) on nutrient agar to make the Montreal Canadiens.

Let me know your favourite!

Next week, I’ll continue into the science of Agar Art and then finish of with a spooky surprise for Halloween!