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Tom, though it won't help with microscopic examination, have you considered using a microplate reader format?  You could use a nucleic acid stain, such as Hoechst 33342, and compare the signal to a standard curve generated from wells with known bacterial densities.

Jason

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-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tom Lawson
Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2011 9:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Concentrating bacteria cells for microscope visualization.

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Dear Confocalists,

I am having a few problems separating and concentrating bacteria cells for
microscope visualization.

I have a 1 ml solution in an aliquot that contains some eukaryote debris and
10 to 100 bacteria cells. After spotting the centrifuge concentrate to a
slide-well, I can see the bacteria with a nucleic stain. But the debris in
the concentrate makes it hard to pipette and blocks seeing the bacteria. In
addition, the concentrate is spread over a 6 mm slide-well which makes it
hard to locate the bacteria.

I would be grateful for any suggestions.

Regards,

--
Tom Lawson
[log in to unmask]
PhD Student,
Macquarie University
NSW, 2109
Australia