Laser light reveals superbugs at molecular-scale resolution

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Scientists are using laser light to bring molecular-scale resolution to the study of superbugs such as Streptococcus Pneumoniae, an advance that promises new insights into how they cause disease.

Streptococcus Pneumoniae bacteria are a leading cause of bacterial pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis and are estimated to have caused around 335,000 worldwide deaths in children aged five years and under in 2015.

Current technologies do not allow a resolution that enables thorough studies of bacterial properties that affect disease development. Electron microscopes show minute detail at the atomic level, but they cannot analyse live specimens because electrons can easily be deflected by molecules in the air, so any bacteria under inspection is held in a vacuum. This makes super-resolution microscopes preferable for biological analysis.

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Dubbed NanoVIB (NANO-scale Visualisation to understand Bacterial virulence and invasiveness - based on fluorescence NANOscopy and VIBrational microscopy), the project will inform the development of new antimicrobials.

To this end, the European Commission has granted the health consortium €5,635,529 through the Photonics Public Private Partnership to build this super-resolution microscope.

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