Discrimination of motile bacteria from filamentous fungi using dynamic speckle.

We present a dynamic laser speckle method to easily discriminate filamentous fungi from motile bacteria in soft surfaces, such as agar plate. The method allows the detection and discrimination between fungi and bacteria faster than with conventional techniques. The new procedure could be straightforwardly extended to different micro-organisms, as well as applied to biological and biomedical research, infected tissues analysis, and hospital water and wastewaters studies. (C) 2012 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). [DOI: 10.1117/1.JBO.17.5.056011]