Anna Wang

Wang, A. ; Garmann, R. F. ; Manoharan, V. N. Tracking E. coli runs and tumbles with scattering solutions and digital holographic microscopy. Optics Express 2016, 24, 23719–23725. Publisher's VersionAbstract

We use in-line digital holographic microscopy to image freely swimming E. coli. We show that fitting a light scattering model to E. coli holograms can yield quantitative information about the bacterium&\#x02019;s body rotation and tumbles, offering a precise way to track fine details of bacterial motility. We are able to extract the cell&\#x02019;s three-dimensional (3D) position and orientation and recover behavior such as body angle rotation during runs, tumbles, and pole reversal. Our technique is label-free and capable of frame rates limited only by the camera.