Dr. Nika Janež is a postdoctoral researcher in the Microbial Glycobiology Group led by Dr. Jerica Sabotič (IJS, Slovenia), where they study natural sources of functional carbohydrates and carbohydrate-binding proteins (lectins) with antibiofilml activity against foodborne pathogens. During the STSM, we extended this research to natural biofilm communities, in collaboration with a host research group led by Dr. Stefano Fazi (CNR-IRSA), who has expertise in the biology and analysis of aquatic biofilms. The CARD-FISH method, which stands for catalyzed reporter deposition (CARD) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), was coupled with techniques to visualize and quantify the effects of selected fungal protein on aquatic biofilms.
Figure 1. Characteristics of a natural aquatic biofilm used for knowledge transfer on aquatic biofilm labelling by CARD-FISH. All members of the biofilm are labelled with DAPI (blue), cyanobacteria show autoflourescence (red) and Eubacteria are labelled with CARD-FISH (green). The image was taken with a Zeiss confocal microscope at 10x magnification.
Figure 2. 3D representation of an aquatic biofilm community, labelled with DAPI (blue) and CARD-FISH (green), cyanobacteria show autoflourescence (red). The images were taken with a Zeiss microscope at 63x magnification with oil immersion.
