Hijacking bacteria's natural defenses to trap and reveal pathogens
Monday, May 12, 2014 - 17:30
in Biology & Nature
The image shows a) on the left hand side, aggregates of E coli labelled blue by in situ activated polymers, and b) on the right hand side E. coli clusters in suspension with bacterial-instructed polymers Schematics of the binding process are shown in the enlargement boxes of the image. Credit: Professor Cameron Alexander The University of Nottingham UK The breakthrough, published in the journal Nature Materials, could offer an easier way of detecting pathogenic bacteria outside of a clinical setting and could be particularly important for the developing world, where access to more sophisticated laboratory techniques is often limited.