Validation by: Yolanda Huang, Ph.D. and research team (huanglab.bio)
Assistant Professor. Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. University at Buffalo, State University of New York (SUNY).
Researchers at the Huang Lab investigate how anaerobic bacteria commonly found in the human gut tolerate antimicrobial compounds and the molecular mechanisms underlying their responses.
Using a combination of high-throughput functional genomics and molecular approaches, the team studies bacterial growth and antimicrobial tolerance under anaerobic conditions.
-
OD600 Growth Monitoring: Bacterial growth is monitored over time by measuring optical density at 600 nm in 96-well plates.
-
Antimicrobial Response Analysis: Bacterial growth phenotypes are evaluated across different concentrations of antimicrobial compounds to investigate their effects on bacterial growth.
Absorbance 96 was used to monitor bacterial growth through repeated OD600 measurements in 96-well plates, which were placed inside a 37 °C incubator within an anaerobic chamber, allowing growth measurements to be performed under controlled anaerobic conditions. Multiple readers could be connected simultaneously to accommodate additional experiments.
This figure shows bacterial growth monitored over 48 hours using OD600 measurements with Byonoy's Absorbance 96. The upper and lower panels represent two different antimicrobial concentration series, compared with untreated bacteria grown in rich medium.
Both panels show concentration-dependent changes in bacterial growth. While untreated cultures reached an OD600 of approximately 0.5, several antimicrobial treatments reduced growth or altered the shape of the growth curves.
Results: The researchers observed differences in bacterial growth depending on the concentration of the antimicrobial compounds. Some conditions strongly inhibited growth, while others allowed bacterial populations to grow but resulted in lower final OD600 values compared with the untreated controls.
Using Absorbance 96, the Huang Lab monitored these growth patterns over time under anaerobic conditions, supporting the investigation of antimicrobial tolerance and bacterial growth phenotypes.
Photo: Experimental setup used by the Huang Lab. Arrows point to Absorbance 96 readers.
