Replacing a Century Old Technique - Modern Spectroscopy Can Supplant Gram Staining.

Rapid and accurate Gram differentiation is paramount as the first step of pathogen identification and antibiotics administration. However, the current method requires additional reagents, is time-consuming, and is operator dependent. Here we show the principle of tip enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) can differentiate between Gram negative and positive species, by detecting the changes in tip-enhancement in the Raman scattering from the bacteria's lipid-bilayer membrane, which specifically enhances Gram negative bacteria.

Deposition and Characterization of Roughened Surfaces.

Phase separation occurs whenever a solvent leaves a solution of strongly incompatible polymers. This can happen in bulk and in films. Films can be tailored as substrates for multiple applications such as solar cells, surface catalysis, and antireflection coatings.

Exploring chromatin organization mechanisms through its dynamic properties.

The organization of the genome in the nucleus is believed to be crucial for different cellular functions. It is known that chromosomes fold into distinct territories, but little is known about the mechanisms that maintain these territories. To explore these mechanisms, we used various live-cell imaging methods, including single particle tracking to characterize the diffusion properties of different genomic regions in live cells.