© 2009 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
775
Biotechnol. J. 2009, 4, 775
DOI 10.1002/biot.200900129
www.biotechnology-journal.com
tributions include papers on
flow-through imaging cytometry
(p. 880–887), tracking of motile
malaria parasites (p. 903–913
and the use of electron tomogra-
phy to study host-parasite inter-
actions (p. 888–894).The issue is
rounded off with an ex-
tensive forum magazine
offering historical as-
says as well as overviews
over some latest product
developments and re-
search papers. Finally, the last
article in the books section is
taking a fresh look on Hollywood
and 
how 
Californian 
movie
makers see pathogens and their
interactions with their invari-
ably hapless human hosts. We
thus hope to provide an interest-
ing, useful and entertaining is-
sue for both the general and
specialist reader.
Friedrich Frischknecht and
Spencer Shorte
E-mails: freddy.frischknecht@
med.uni-heidelberg.de;
sshorte@pasteur.fr
[1] Lepper, S., Münter, S., Spotlight on
pathogens: Imaging Host-Pathogen-
Interactions, Cell. Microbiol. 2009, 11,
855-862.
Editorial: Imaging host-pathogen
interactions
art and the challenges for the fu-
ture in a fledgling research field
at the crossroads of imaging sci-
ence and microbiology [1]. The
aim of this issue is to provide the
reader with a glimpse of the va-
riety of research and technology
paradigms that are essential to
further progress in a research
area that holds great promise to
understand and thus eventually
cure a large number of infec-
tious diseases, which in many
parts of the world kill more peo-
ple than any other cause of mor-
tality.
Today’s microscopes allow
the detailed observation of in-
fectious processes such as the
recruitment of proteins to the
cellular entry or exit site of a
pathogen, the spread of patho-
gens deep inside tissues of living
animals or the localization to
nanometer precision of macro-
molecular complexes within a
pathogen. The generation of the
large sets of image data calls for
increasingly complex ways to
analyze images in order to ex-
tract meaningful data, and espe-
cially new technologies enabling
automation of this pipeline. Re-
views in this issue provide in-
sights into sub-diffraction imag-
ing (p. 846–857 and p. 858–865),
the automated tracking and
analysis of pathogens and their
interaction with host cells (p.
837–845) and the use of image-
based RNAi screens to discover
host factors essential for infec-
tion (p. 826–838). Original con-
The process of taking a picture
(i.e. generating an image) is as
entrenched in medicine, bio-
medical research and biotech-
nology as in modern life. Be it a
diagnostic x-ray after an acci-
dent or a quick look through a
microscope to check the density
of cells on a Petri dish, imaging
technology is essential to the
point where most users are only
as familiar with its technological
basics as car drivers are aware of
the mechanics under the
bonnet of their vehicles.
Likewise, most biologists
have seen a modern re-
search microscope, but
few have used it them-
selves, not being able to afford
such an instrument within the
context of a lab budget, the only
recourse for their data-generat-
ing students and postdocs being
the use of nearby imaging facili-
ties (where available).
At the forefront of microbiol-
ogy a small number of labs use
dynamic imaging to watch the
cellular and molecular basis of
many infectious disease pro-
cesses unfold in multi-coloured
real time. Microbes were first
observed by Antony van Leeu-
wenhoek who understood their
possible link to disease in the
outgoing 17th century and the
first films of bacteria were
recorded at the beginning of the
20th century (p. 787–790).This is-
sue of Biotechnology Journal is
exclusively dedicated to the cur-
rent state of imaging the interac-
tion of pathogens with their
hosts, as a follow-up to a sympo-
sium held in Heidelberg (Ger-
many) in September 2008, where
70 experts and students dis-
cussed the current state of the
Spencer Shorte & Freddy Frischknecht
“Watch the cellular and molecular basis of many infec-
tious disease processes unfold in multi-coloured real
time“