What kinds of bacteria are growing in your sink or your refrigerator? How about on your keyboard at work? Does soap really reduce the amount of bacteria on your hands?

Dr. Keith Lampel of the Food and Drug Administration helps citizen scientists discover the world of bacteria in and around us.

Filmed at the Marian Koshland Science Museum in Washington, D.C., this two-part science lab kicked off with a hands-on activity in the museum to observe the invisible bacteria that are present all around us. Attendees were shown how to prepare samples in the museum and took lab supplies with them for further investigation in their homes, offices and schools. For the second part of program, participants shared their scientific endeavors from the previous week as Dr. Lampel answered their questions and discussed recent research at the FDA, new technologies, and new initiatives in food safety.

Dr. Keith Lampel is the Director of the Division of Microbiology within the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). His research interests include the development of rapid detection methods for food-borne pathogens using DNA-based technology, and identifying the genes in these bacteria that are involved in the development of disease.