A Guide to Biodetection in Droplets.

Droplet-based methods for optical biodetection enable unprecedented high-throughput experimental parameters. The methods, however, remain underused due to the accompanying multidisciplinary and complicated experimental workflows. Here, we provide a tutorial for droplet-based optical biodetection workflows with a focus on the key aspect of label selection.

Methods for studying microbial acid stress responses: from molecules to populations.

The study of how micro-organisms detect and respond to different stresses has a long history of producing fundamental biological insights while being simultaneously of significance in many applied microbiological fields including infection, food and drink manufacture, and industrial and environmental biotechnology. This is well-illustrated by the large body of work on acid stress. Numerous different methods have been used to understand the impacts of low pH on growth and survival of micro-organisms, ranging from studies of single cells to large and heterogeneous populations, from the molecular or biophysical to the computational, and from well-understood model organisms to poorly defined and complex microbial consortia.

Replacement of milk fat by rapeseed oil stabilised emulsion in commercial yogurt.

The incorporation of lipid droplets and further characterization of matrices within dairy products may be possible using such adjacent particles as protein complexes/lipids. Among the range of varied emulsions and their functionalities, great attention has recently focused on the fabrication of high internal phase types. Feasibly, stable alternatives structured with health-beneficial lipids like those derived from plants could replace saturated fatty acids.

User-friendly analysis of droplet array images.

Water-in-oil droplets allow performing massive experimental parallelization and high-throughput studies, such as single-cell experiments. However, analyzing such vast arrays of droplets usually requires advanced expertise and sophisticated workflow tools, which limits accessibility for a wider user base in the fields of chemistry and biology. Thus, there is a need for more user-friendly tools for droplet analysis.

Droplet-based methods for tackling antimicrobial resistance.

Application of droplet-based methods enables (i) faster detection, (ii) increased sensitivity, (iii) characterization of the level of heterogeneity in response to antibiotics by bacterial populations, and (iv) expanded screening of the effectiveness of antibiotic combinations. Hereby, we discuss the key steps and parameters of droplet-based experiments to investigate antimicrobial resistance. We also review recent findings accomplished with these methods and highlight their advantages and capacity to yield new insights into the problem of antimicrobial resistance.

Cyclohexanohemicucurbit[8]uril Inclusion Complexes With Heterocycles and Selective Extraction of Sulfur Compounds From Water.

Solid-phase extraction that utilizes selective macrocyclic receptors can serve as a useful tool for removal of chemical wastes. Hemicucurbiturils are known to form inclusion complexes with suitably sized anions; however, their use in selective binding of non-charged species is still very limited. In this study, we found that cyclohexanohemicucurbit[8]uril encapsulates five- and six-membered sulfur- and oxygen-containing unsubstituted heterocycles, which is investigated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, NMR spectroscopy, isothermal titration calorimetry, and thermogravimetry.

Investigation of Different Free Image Analysis Software for High-Throughput Droplet Detection.

Droplet microfluidics has revealed innovative strategies in biology and chemistry. This advancement has delivered novel quantification methods, such as droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) and an antibiotic heteroresistance analysis tool. For droplet analysis, researchers often use image-based detection techniques.

Techniques Used for Analyzing Microplastics, Antimicrobial Resistance and Microbial Community Composition: A Mini-Review.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health threat. Antibiotics, heavy metals, and microplastics are environmental pollutants that together potentially have a positive synergetic effect on the development, persistence, transport, and ecology of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment. To evaluate this, a wide array of experimental methods would be needed to quantify the occurrence of antibiotics, heavy metals, and microplastics as well as associated microbial communities in the natural environment.

Epidemiology of Danish subsp. in Fish Farms Using Whole Genome Sequencing.

Furunculosis, a serious infection caused by the bacterium subsp. is common in sea-reared rainbow trout production in Denmark. Developing an effective control strategy requires knowledge of the epidemiology, as well as the genomic and virulent variability of the Danish subsp.

Co-infection with 'Candidatus Neoehrlichia Mikurensis' and Borrelia afzelii in Ixodes ricinus ticks in southern Sweden.

The tick-borne bacterium 'Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis' has recently been recognized as a human pathogen in Europe and appears to be the second most common pathogenic bacterium in Ixodes ricinus ticks in central Europe, second to Borrelia afzelii. Here, we investigate the prevalence of 'Candidatus N. mikurensis' in host-seeking ticks in southern Sweden and the rate of co-infection with B.