Advanced Bacterial Imaging Systems

Bacterial cells are immensely important because of their effects on the environment, as disease causing agents and as industrial organisms. An understanding of the detailed functioning of bacterial cells is critical if we are to control them and manipulate them to our advantage. Microscopes are a crucial component of the range of experimental tools that we used to study bacteria. Because the cells are extremely small we need exceptionally high sensitivity and magnification to be able to resolve details of their structure. The purpose of this proposal is to provide the Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, which is one of the premier sites for research on the fundamentals of bacterial cells, with advanced imaging equipment. The new instruments will allow us to look more deeply than ever before into these tiny cells and understand the mechanisms that take place inside them.

Bacterial cells are small and difficult to image. Five researchers in the new Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology in Newcastle wish to enhance their portfolio of equipment used for quantitative subcellular imaging with the addition of a spinning disc confocal microscope and a flow cytometer. Both instruments will be customised for application to the small size and low fluorescence signals associated with bacterial cells. The spinning disc system will enable us to do long time lapse experiments with minimal irradiation damage and extremlely high spatial and temporal resolution. It will also carry an additional laser system that can be used for photobleaching or photoactivation experiments. The flow cytometer will enable us to collect large and accurate data sets on populations of individual cells, which currently can only be done by laborious image quantitation, on relatively small numbers of cells. The instruments will be used for a range of applications including problems associated with the cell cycle, the dynamics of cytoskeletal proteins, the control of gene expression, and RNA localization.