In situ chemical imaging at the sub-biofilm-scale now possible
Thursday, March 6, 2014 - 08:33
in Physics & Chemistry
(Phys.org) —Catching biofilm chemistry with images has always been a cold or dry affair. Now, a multidisciplinary team at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is the first to demonstrate imaging of a biofilm's chemical components as they form in hydrated biological samples, rather than from frozen or dried samples. They used a surface technique called time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, ToF-SIMS, under high vacuum conditions to perform in situ mapping of biofilm chemistry.