Fig. 3. Bacterial microtrapping.

a Overall assay performance, where dots represent the number of positive microtraps detected, N, for various bacterial concentrations in the 2.25 ml blood sample, C, and lines depict the least square fitting linear calibration curves N = η ⋅ C. Each point corresponds to an individual experiment. A total of n = 12 samples were tested. b Timelapse images of bacterial capture and growth in a single microtrap, showing the capture of one bacterium of K. pneumoniae 40 min after sample addition, followed by bacterial cell division. The figure was created with Microsoft Excel and edited and assembled using the open-source software Inkscape.