We strive to make micro scale processes and microbial interactions ‘come to life’,
through both experimental and conceptual images and videos.
Feel free to download them and please credit them as indicated.
Dichotomy in motility during carbon starvation
Motility may help bacteria escape starvation by swimming away, but it comes at a high energetic cost. Marine bacteria have evolved two strategies in response: keep searching (limokinetic) or stay home (limostatic).
Credits: Johannes Keegstra
See paper – Keegstra et al. in Nature Microbiology, 2025.
If you want to know the story behind this work, read here.
biofilm development with time-lapse fluorescence microscopy
Time-lapse of S. epidermidis 1457 in TSB media at 37OC with a hydrostatic pressure of 150mbar.
Credits: Samuel Charlton
Microscale dynamics of bacteria-spines interactions
Time-lapse movie showing fluorescently labeled bacteria attaching to diatom spines under flow conditions.
Credits: Mathieu Forget
bacteria chemotaxis towards a dying diatom cell
Bacteria use chemotaxis, a process where they adjust their swimming behaviour in response to chemical gradients of phytoplankton-derived compounds, to accumulate in the phycosphere, i.e. the nutrient-rich hotspots around a dying phytoplankton cell.
Credits: Mathieu Forget
FISH swimming motions during peak flow
During high discharge conditions, brown trout parr display swimming modes aimed at conserving energy (hatchery fish: yellow; wild fish: green). “Bow riding” in the upstream (upper panels) and “Entraining” in the downstream of a cobble (lower panels) produce distinctive body posture patterns characterised in terms of tail tip offset L and orientation angle 𝜃 (right panels).
Credits: Robert Naudascher
See paper – Naudascher et al. in Science of the Total Environment, 2024.
DIATOM GROWTH
Growth and division of the marine phytoplankton D. brightwellii, with chloroplast autofluorescence shown in green.
Credits: Oliver Müller
Streamer Formation
Phase-contrast video of P. aeruginosa PA14 WT biofilm streamers tethered to a micropillar.
Credits: Savorana et al., Softmatter 2022
Fish swimming in flow
Credits: Robert Naudascher
Trichodesmium filaments
Credits: Jonasz Slomka
Trichodesmium filaments gliding on each other on a glass surface and reversing their motion direction (smart reversal).
See paper – Pfreundt U, Slomka J et al. in Science, 2022.
How nutrients spread in a turbulent sea
Credits: John Taylor and Roman Stocker;
see paper in Science, 2012.
FTLE reveals chaotic mixing in dense bacterial suspensions
Dense bacterial suspensions undergo collective motion which dramatically stretches and folds its fluid, indicative of chaotic mixing. Degree of mixing quantified by analysis of the FTLE field.
Credits: Dr. Richard Henshaw
Cutta Cutta
Cutta the cat drinking milk (67x slower).
Credits: Pedro Reis, Sunny Jung, Jeff Aristoff and Roman Stocker; see paper in Science, 2010.
Diatom-associated bacteria
A diatom-associated widespread marine bacteria causing morphological changes and ultimately cell lysis of T. rotula.
Credits: Isobel Short, Clara Martinez-Pérez, Uria Alcolombri