COMBINED LIGHT-MICROSCOPY AND ATTENUATED TOTAL-REFLECTION FOURIER-TRANSFORM INFRARED-SPECTROSCOPY FOR INTEGRATION OF BIOFILM STRUCTURE, DISTRIBUTION, AND CHEMISTRY AT SOLID-LIQUID INTERFACES

Reflected differential interference contrast microscopy and attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to obtain complementary data on the structural and chemical properties o f a biofilm. This information was obtained nondestructively, quasisimu ltaneously, and in real time, thereby permitting the verification of t ime-dependent relationships between the biofilm's population structure , distribution, and interfacial chemistry. The approach offers opportu nities to examine these relationships on a variety of substrata in the presence of a bulk aqueous phase under controlled hydrodynamic condit ions.