The word "petri" is actually a shortened form of "Petri dish," which is a shallow, cylindrical glass or plastic dish used in laboratories. It is mainly used to grow and investigate cultures of microorganisms. Full definition
Our cover story, «The Ultimate Social Network,» by Jennifer Ackerman, describes the efforts to map our human microbiome — no easy feat when certain critters, such as the gut bacteria that prosper in an oxygen - free environment, are challenging to grow in petri dishes in a laboratory. (scientificamerican.com)
At the other end of the scale, there's now a new lightweight record - holder growing in petri dishes in California. (sciencemag.org)
They completed a screen of 115 mutants x 3 replicates = a lot of petri dishes for their first time in the laboratory. (lab.stajich.org)