IntraPerSpective - Novel spectroscopic tools and methods for non-invasive photonic investigation of persistent intracellular infections

The project IntraPerSpective is the continuation of the project IntraInf of the identification phase. During this phase, spectroscopic fingerprints of the obligate intracellular bacterial pathogens Chlamydia abortus and Coxiella burnetii were taken non-invasively and non-destructively. The established Raman spectroscopic methods allow a valuable insight into the metabolic state of the pathogens directly in the host cell, but are not fast enough to capture dynamic processes. Functional studies on the induction of therapy-relevant bacterial persistence will now be developed by fast Raman spectroscopic imaging based on integrated field spectrometry and structured illumination.