Make sure the bottom of the plate you are moving the worms to is labeled with the strain name and date.

Have both your old plate (starved worms, no bacteria) and new plate (no worms, bacteria) ready.

Old and new plates

Have the necessary tools ready.

Tool preparation

Place the spatula in the jar of ethanol, then pass it through the flame to sterilize.

Sterilizing the spatula

After the flame has extinguished from the spatula, use it to cut through the agar in the centre of the plate and cut out a ~1 cm² area.

Cutting the agar

Remove the cut-out area using the spatula.

Removing the chunk

Place the agar chunk from the old plate worm-side down at the edge of the bacterial lawn on the new plate.

Placing the chunk

After placing the agar chunk, hold the spatula in the flame of the Bunsen burner to melt or burn any remaining agar and worms.

Re-sterilizing the spatula

Place the spatula back in the ethanol to sterilize again before preparing the next sample.

When done chunking, place the plates in the incubator at their optimal growing temperature.