Microbial Viability Assays

The viability of microbial cells on antimicrobial coatings prepared in multi-well plates is determined in addition to total retained biomass. Two quantification assays are utilized in this regard. The first assay is based on the reduction of a tetrazolium salt compound (XTT) by actively respiring microbial cells. This process produces an orange colored compound that can be measured by absorbance at 490 nm. The second assay is based on a bioluminescence measurement of ATP extracted from viable microbial cells on the coating surfaces.

Additional Antimicrobial Testing & Characterization Capabilities

Traditional antimicrobial characterization techniques have been implemented at NDSU for the advanced testing and evaluation of promising antimicrobial coating candidates identified with the high-throughput screening workflow.