The lab where Protacio works uses agar to grow model organisms called fission yeast, whose chromosomes have striking similarities with ours. The bad agar derailed their experiments for two months.

Although the foundational concepts and methods remain the same, the technology has advanced far beyond test tubes full of blood and agar. Emerging techniques ... The most common form of yeast ...

When diastatic strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or brewer's yeast ... to prevent contamination, the strains can slip by. "If you were to look at these strains on an agar plate, you couldn ...

Breweries do have procedures in place to prevent contamination, but diastatic yeasts are hard to identify as they look like any other yeast when put under a microscope. At large breweries ...

They modified yeast to create living pieces of art on agar canvases using biopointillism; a robot positioned each dot of yeast, or biopixel, onto agar plates. Their first artwork, an homage to Natty ...

Killer toxins, which are produced by other yeast strains ... methods to prevent contamination, the strains can slip by. "If you were to look at these strains on an agar plate, you couldn't ...