Studies on a luminescent antimicrobial metal complex reveal a method to directly image pathogenic bacterial infection in a living organism using optical microscopy

A transparent Galleria mellonella larva model enables three-dimensional optical microscopy imaging of Acetinobacter baumannii infection using a luminescent antimicrobial metal complex and Alexafluor-488 dye.

• Why it matters: Optical microscopy of living infection is limited by opaque larvae, creating a gap for directly visualizing pathogenic bacteria and therapeutic action in vivo.
• What they did: The study renders Galleria mellonella larvae transparent for orthodox light microscopy, then images Acetinobacter baumannii infection probed with a metal complex antimicrobial and, for general utility, with Alexafluor-488.
• The result: The approach directly images bacteria within live larvae and supports probing therapeutic action against Acetinobacter baumannii infection in a living organism.