Editor-in-chief
Tankeshwar Acharya, MSc (Medical Microbiology)
Tankeshwar Acharya is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology at Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS), Nepal, where he has been teaching and practicing clinical microbiology for over 14 years. He is the founder of Microbe Online, one of the leading free microbiology education resources on the web, covering bacteriology, mycology, parasitology, immunology, and clinical laboratory diagnostics written from direct experience in both the classroom and the diagnostic laboratory.
Step-by-step nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab collection, how deep the swab should go and how to tell, which swabs are unacceptable, and how to store the specimen so the resul...
LAP (leucine aminopeptidase) test: principle, procedure, and expected results, and how it works alongside PYR to identify catalase-negative Gram-positive cocci.
Plasmodium life cycle, pathogenesis, and lab diagnosis explained: falciparum vs vivax, why only rings show on a smear, hypnozoites, relapse vs recrudescence.
Learn the types of pipettes used in microbiology — glass, micropipette, multichannel, automated, and calibrated — with a guide on choosing the right pipette for your procedure.
SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics explained: RT-PCR and Ct value interpretation, antigen testing principles, and IgG/IgM serology — a complete teaching guide to the three pillars of viral dia...
Compare cell wall composition across bacteria (peptidoglycan), fungi (chitin, glucan), mycobacteria (mycolic acid), and cell-wall-deficient organisms — and how each difference dete...
Complete guide to HIV — structure (gp120, gp41, p24, reverse transcriptase), laboratory diagnosis (ELISA, Western blot, PCR, CD4 count), and why some people are naturally resistant...
Blood Collection Tubes: Significance of Color Coding
Columbia CNA agar selects for gram-positive organisms by inhibiting gram-negatives with colistin and nalidixic acid. Learn when to use it, which organisms grow, and how colony appe...
Serial dilution is the standard method for estimating bacterial counts in samples. Learn the 10-fold dilution procedure, CFU/mL calculation, the 30–300 colony rule, common errors (...
Compare cotton, calcium alginate, Dacron, rayon, and nylon flocked swabs, and see which swab and shaft to use for each specimen type, from throat and wound to pertussis and GC cult...
Bacteriological agar is the gelling agent used in virtually all solid culture media. Learn its properties, why it's preferred over gelatin, melting and solidification temperatures,...
A complete guide to in-house culture media preparation — weighing, dissolving, autoclaving, pH verification, dispensing, drying, and storage — with a troubleshooting table for comm...
SIM medium principle, procedure, and how to read sulfide, indole, and motility correct including why it catches weak H2S producers that TSI and KIA miss.
Traveling to Capetown to Attend Neisseria Conference
