The teams of Michael Wagner and Holger Daims have published, in collaboration with David Berry (Univ. of Vienna) and with the team of Roman Stocker (ETH Zürich), a new Raman-based method for microbial ecology. An automated optomicrofluidic cell allows sorting of cells according to their Raman spectrum for subsequent cultivation or single-cell genomics. In contrast to FACS machines, this device sorts microbial cells from complex communities according to their function. The new tool has manifold potential applications. In the context of the research platform, it will be used for identifying and sorting comammox and canonical nitrifier cells from environmental samples and enrichment cultures.
Full text at Nature Microbiology
