Viral metagenomic analysis of the cheese surface: A comparative study of rapid procedures for extracting viral particles.

The structure and functioning of microbial communities from fermented foods, including cheese, have been extensively studied during the past decade. However, there is still a lack of information about both the occurrence and the role of viruses in modulating the function of this type of spatially structured and solid ecosystems. Viral metagenomics was recently applied to a wide variety of environmental samples and standardized procedures for recovering viral particles from different type of materials has emerged.

Utilization of interferometric light microscopy for the rapid analysis of virus abundance in a river.

There is a constant need for direct counting of biotic nanoparticles such as viruses to unravel river functioning. We used, for the first time in freshwater, a new method based on interferometry differentiating viruses from other particles such as membrane vesicles. In the French Marne River, viruses represented between 42 and 72% of the particles.

Calibration procedures for quantitative multiple wavelengths reflectance microscopy.

In order to characterize surface chemo-mechanical phenomena driving micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMSs) behavior, it has been previously proposed to use reflected intensity fields obtained from a standard microscope for different illumination wavelengths. Wavelength-dependent and -independent reflectivity fields are obtained from these images, provided the relative reflectance sensitivities ratio can be identified. This contribution focuses on the necessary calibration procedures and mathematical methods allowing for a quantitative conversion from a mechanically induced reflectivity field to a surface rotation field, therefore paving the way for a quantitative mechanical analysis of MEMS under chemical loading.

Mapping fluxes of radicals from the combination of electrochemical activation and optical microscopy.

The coating of gold (Au) electrode surfaces with nitrophenyl (NP) layers is studied by combination of electrochemical actuation and optical detection. The electrochemical actuation of the reduction of the nitrobenzenediazonium (NBD) precursor is used to generate NP radicals and therefore initiate the electrografting. The electrografting process is followed in situ and in real time by light reflectivity microscopy imaging, allowing for spatio-temporal imaging with sub-micrometer lateral resolution and sub-nanometer thickness sensitivity of the local growth of a transparent organic coating onto a reflecting Au electrode.