Colorized Bacteria

This is an SEM image of bacteria infested mouse intestine. It took me several evenings to colorize it with Photoshop. Those tiny bacteria took forever to loop. The sample was provided by Ivalyo Ivanov of the Littman lab in the NYUMC Skirball Insitute. Click to enlarge.
I worked on this sample on a Zeiss Environmental SEM called the EVO but couldn't get very good results. So, we decided to work directly with Zeiss to get improve them. My boss traveled to Harvard and worked with Doug Wei from Zeiss on another Zeiss microscope called the VP Supra SEM. The difference between the EVO and the Supra is that the EVO can image wet samples but has a tungsten filament. The combination produces lower resolution images. The Supra can do variable pressure EM so there is a little more sample prep involved, but you don't have to coat the sample with metal, and this microscope also uses a Field Emission Gun that produces images with much better resolution. We've applied for a grant to purchase this instrument. If it's approved we can get one for our lab and do similar work.
To the right is the original image. It was taken on the Zeiss VP Supra by Doug Wei and colorized by me in Photoshop.