The Challenge
Wafi’s main research topic aims to set up a pharmacodynamic model comparing antibiotic activities against biofilms and examine in parallel their effects on viability and biofilm mass. The team have compared the effects of antibiotics on bacterial viability and antibiotic penetration in the biofilm.
In their research they needed to measure biofilm production using crystal violet absorbance, a cationic dye which stains nonspecifically negatively charged biofilm constituents based on ionic interactions. They also needed to observe the bacterial viability within the biofilm using the blue-colored phenoxazin dye resazurin, which is reduced by viable bacteria to the pink, fluorescent compound resorufin1.

The Solution
The team needed to perform both fluorescence and absorbance measurements, for which they had acquired two types of microplate readers; the VersaMax ELISA Absorbance Reader and the SpectraMax M3. The SpectraMax M3 allows multi-mode measurements and provides the team with greater flexibility.