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Bloomin' Bacteria
29 May 2015

Bloomin' Bacteria

Looking a bit like a really expensive bunch of flowers, these 'blooms' are microscopic organisms bursting up from a river bed. Bacteria (highlighted in pink) and algae (blue) are thriving side-by-side in a biofilm – a sprawling community knitted together by chemicals like carbohydrates (red and yellow) and nucleic acids (green). Biofilms are good news for bacteria, but bad news in hospitals where invisible MRSA-containing biofilms can develop on unwashed surfaces. Understanding how biofilms blossom is crucial to tackling them. Researchers used confocal laser scanning microscopy to piece together this detailed image, revealing not only the diversity of growth, but how the living populations mingle and interact. A long list of cutting-edge microscopy techniques are now being repurposed for the job of watching biofilms – no easy task as the biofilms, and the surfaces they colonise, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

Written by John Ankers

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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