The study of microbiology belongs to a field of biology responsible for contemplating the morphological and physiological aspects of microorganisms, including unicellular (organisms formed by a single cell) and prokaryotes (living beings whose cell nucleus is not bounded by a membrane), such as bacteria and fungi (AKKERMANS, VAN ELSAS, DE BRUIJN, 1996). In this regard, the discipline of microbiology taught in institutions of higher education, constitutes one of the fundamental branches of basic sciences, with the knowledge and detailed study of microorganisms and their essential functions to establish their
use in varied applications, from the medical field, food, environmental, agricultural and industrial. Thus, microbiology is consolidated as one of the pillars of health sciences (ALBERTS et al, 2006; TORTORA, 2017).
The theoretical-practical pedagogical approaches responsible for making the transmission of knowledge according to the needs of the students are susceptible to a recurrent reassessment, alteration and redesign, in order to attract the attention and engagement of the students, as observed in the technical rearrangement for conducting practical classes in the laboratories (PARANÁ, 2008). In microbiology, conditions are unfavorable as regards the development of practical classes due to the lack of laboratory structure, material quality and specific storage and maintenance techniques. In addition, when the infrastructure is favorable for the development of practical classes, the quality of the material used, such as microscopy slides, in addition to being insufficient to meet the demand, have ineffective conservation quality for prolonging the survival of stored microorganisms ( DA SILVA, MORAIS, & CUNHA, 2011).
The Microbiology laboratories of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) develop activities with a variety of microorganisms and contaminated materials, in this perspective, it is necessary to adopt a set of preventive measures within a program of good practices in handling and conservation of the materials used, in order to guarantee protection in the development of activities, in the handling of the equipment and in the conservation of the material, as well as in the manipulation by the students, teachers and technicians and researchers, in order to avoid the contamination of their experiments and the laboratory environment (AUGUST et al, 1990; MINISTRY OF HEALTH, 1999).
Laboratory safety in the academic environment has developed over the years for good technique, need for adequate preparation and training of those who manipulate (BORGES, LIMA, 2007). From the moment of material collection, storage, transportation, to continuous use in practical classes. Such security is based on the adoption of procedures that aim at the integrity of the material that is used during the techniques of promotion to the critical development of the student regarding the practical observation of preventive measures and care of the slides used during the learning process (BORGES, LIMA, 2007)
Some laboratory techniques demand more specific conservation measures, since they are of fundamental importance for the study of microbiology, such as the realization of staining methods on slides that end up being daily used in the ways more varied and for the most diverse purposes, through these stains and fixations on slides it is possible, for a certain time, to visualize bacteria and fungi, both for health purposes and for teaching (TRUJILLO et al, 2012, MINISTRY OF HEALTH , 1999). However, little is found in the literature on its storage and durability. Thus, the present work aims to carry out a theoretical and practical survey of the profile of conservation of microbiological sheets of the institutional collection of a private university located in the metropolitan region of Belém, Pará, Brazil