Lab

No sure exactly which lab you are doing.

The plates are incubated at 37 degrees celsius or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure optimal growth. optimal growth for most of the bacteria labs occurs usually between 35 and 37 degrees celsius. This temperature is also the normal body temperature.

Exactly, you have to be more specific 1LovelyNurse.

Generally, however, in microbiology, 37 oC is commonly used because it is a physiologically relevant temperature for studying human pathogens. Think about it, our body temperature is typically ideal for pathogens, such as bacteria, to grow. Thus, it's the ideal growth temperature for some bacteria. But, not all bacteria grow best at 37 oC. Some human pathogens hardly grow at all at 37 oC (Mycobacterium leprae, for example). This bacteria causes leprosy. If you are looking at bacteria that live in and on the human body, disease causing or not, 37 oC incubators will mimic the temperature that those bacteria normally grow at. Growth at cooler or warmer cannot only potentially slow growth of the desired bacteria, but permit over growth of undesired bacteria. Growing pathogens at higher than 37 oC could damage the proteins and different mechanisms inside the pathogen.