[tippa123]

A great read from the author. It reminded me of my previous life as a bioprocess engineer, where I led investigations into biologically contaminated batches in biotech. It was fun stuff and I still remember some of the best advice I received from an Executive Vice President to never underestimate a microbe.

On this subject, I once led an investigation in which Bacillus cereus somehow survived in situ media sterilisation for 30 minutes and >121.1°C, despite there being no cold spots. At the end we realised it was the bioburden load of a media component and water temperature used during compounding.

[fnands]

> it was the bioburden load of a media component and water temperature used during compounding.

In English, please ;-)

[weinzierl]

I put it in AI and even that couldn't fix the sentence sufficiently for me to understand it completely.

"So, in ordinary language:"

"One dirty raw ingredient introduced far more spores than expected, and the way it was mixed into the water made the sterilization cycle less effective against them. The autoclave itself was probably not broken."

"The exact relationship to water temperature remains somewhat ambiguous because the HN commenter did not provide the detailed investigation findings."

[tippa123]

To be fair I omitted some key information. The 'dirty raw ingredient' mixed in room-temperature purified water wasn't sterilisable. The same process but mixed in 60°C purified water was sterilisable.

[dotancohen]

It actually took me a minute to decide whether or not to upvote the AI-content post. But it was informative, you were forthcoming on the origin, and the GP has yet to elaborate. Thank you for posting that.