Georgia Tech: The Whiteley Laboratory

Customer Application

Bacteria form complex micron-scale chemical interactions with each other to cause infection. Electrochemical techniques using microelectrodes are capable of elucidating these chemical interactions by detecting and measuring molecules in real-time. However, bacteria are not static, isolated, nor behave in chemically uniform ways in nature. Using the Zaber M-LSM micromanipulator with the Pine Research WaveNano potentiostat, we are able to precisely move microelectrodes on the micron scale and capture how bacterial communities modify their immediate chemical environment. The accuracy and stability of the micromanipulator allow our microelectrodes to approach within tens of microns to these bacterial populations and measure production or consumption of molecules as well as map chemical gradients.

About the Whiteley Laboratory at Georgia Tech

The Whiteley Lab studies the fundamental aspects of bacterial physiology and the implications for understanding human disease. Our lab combines chemistry and microbiology techniques, forming a niche area of study focusing on unraveling the complexities of how bacteria use molecules to interact. In particular, we use electrochemical techniques to detect and measure molecules surrounding bacterial communities that cause chronic infection. Our lab has measured concentration gradients above biofilms, observed molecule production by a few hundred bacteria, and quantified consumption rates of biologically relevant molecules using an electrochemical setup that relies on microscale positioning via a micromanipulator.

Visit the Whiteley Laboratory at Georgia Tech's website at https://www.thewhiteleylab.com.