Abstract
The high-resolution observation of bacteria in culture is one of the promising approaches to discover new action mechanisms of antibacterial agents. Atmospheric scanning electron microscope (SEM) achieved in-liquid observation. We previously improved atmospheric SEM and developed MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems) liquid cell for the culture of bacteria under SEM observation. MEMS liquid cell required liquid medium for bacterial culture. This caused the low spatial resolution due to the electron scattering and the movement of bacteria due to the medium flow. We developed a microfluidic agar device to culture bacteria without liquid medium. An agar channel of 20 μm in height was fabricated by a PDMS mold, and a hydrophobic pattern was stamped on a glass substrate. By the combination of the agar channel and hydrophobic pattern, dyed water was introduced into the agar channel without the leakage.
