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Biochemistry

Chemistry In Pictures

Chemistry in Pictures: Bacteria planet

by Craig Bettenhausen
February 21, 2025
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Most Popular in Biological Chemistry

Credit: Submitted by Leigh Skala

Bacteria get up to all sorts of strange things. As a result, they’ve evolved to produce an extensive range of small molecules with myriad functions. For the bacterium, those chemical compounds help it outcompete other species. Humans, though, may be able to use them as antibiotics or other medicines, as surfactants, or in hundreds of other kinds of applications. Leigh Skala, an undergrad at Oregon State, captured this photo of a crude bacterial extract she collected while prospecting for new medicines in Taifo Mahmud’s lab in the College of Pharmacy. Part of the substance fluoresces under light of wavelength 365 nm, giving the sample its otherworldly appearance.

Submitted by Leigh Skala

Do science. Take pictures. Win money. Enter our photo contest.

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Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright © 2025 American Chemical Society

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