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A geometry-based approach to make viable-cell counting easy and cheap

Nature Microbiology volume 8, pages 2242–2243 (2023)Cite this article

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Counting the number of viable cells in a culture remains a critical measurement in microbiology, but traditional dilution assays are time- and reagent-consuming. We developed the geometric viability assay that overcomes these limitations by leveraging microbial colony distribution in a cone — a pipette tip — to calculate viability across six orders of magnitude.

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Fig. 1: The GVA.

References

  1. Miles, A. A., Misra, S. S. & Irwin, J. O. The estimation of the bactericidal power of the blood. J. Hyg. 38, 732–749 (1938). The original paper proposing dropping dilutions of microbial emulsions on the surface of solid media to enumerate colonies.

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This is a summary of: Meyer, C. T. et al. A high-throughput and low-waste viability assay for microbes. Nat. Microbiol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01513-9 (2023).

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A geometry-based approach to make viable-cell counting easy and cheap. Nat Microbiol 8, 2242–2243 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01522-8

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