Keep It Clean! Sterile Lab Protocols for Mycology

What’s your sterile setup like?
Tell us in the comments—especially if you’ve made something DIY or are learning on the fly. We’ve all been there.

If you’re working with fungi, one of the most important things you’ll learn is how to keep your space clean. Competing microbes (aka contamination) is the number one reason cultures fail—and it doesn’t take much for molds, bacteria, or rogue spores to take over your plate.

In this video, we walk through the basic habits and setups we use to maintain a sterile work environment in our studio lab.

→Pressure cooking (or autoclaving) your media and tools to sterilize them
→Working inside a still air box or, if you have access, a laminar flow hood
→Using an open flame or alcohol lamp to create a clean air zone
→Wear clean gloves and a mask, especially when doing inoculation work. A lab coat or clean clothing keeps things from drifting into your workspace.
→Wipe everything down with 70% isopropyl alcohol—not just once, but often.
→And finally, move slow. In this work, intention matters. The slower and calmer your movements, the fewer disruptions you’ll make to your sterile field.


🌱 Want more in-depth breakdowns, demos, and protocols?

Join our growing network on Patreon:
  / fungalmatters  

You’ll get access to:
→Longform fungal sessions (2hr+ deep dives)
→PDF downloads, clean technique guides, and culture workflows
→Consultations and material-specific feedback
→Early access to our upcoming book Fungal Matters (2025, Routledge)

📖 Fungal Matters is our upcoming book on mycelium materials, cultivation, and biodesign—stay tuned for launch updates in 2025.

📷 Follow along for more behind-the-scenes:
  / fungal.matters  
  / slimy_futures  
  / formalisedcuriosities  

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