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Updated: Jun 6, 2026

Contact Mode Atomic Force Microscopy as a Rapid Technique for Morphological Observation and Bacterial Cell Damage Analysis
Published on: June 30, 2023
Advanced microscopy of microbial cells
Janus A J Haagensen1, Birgitte Regenberg, Claus Sternberg
1Stanford University, The Bio-X Program, Clark Center, 318 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA, Haagensen@stanford.edu.
Abstract:
Growing awareness of heterogeneity in cells of microbial populations has emphasized the importance of advanced microscopy for visualization and understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying cell-to-cell variation. In this review, we highlight some of the recent advances in confocal microscopy, super-resolution optical microscopy (STED, SIM, PALM) as well as atomic force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Using examples of bistability in microbial populations as well as biofilm development and differentiation in bacterial and yeast consortia, we demonstrate the importance of microscopy for visualization of variation between cells in phenotypic traits such as gene expression.
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