Fig. 1

OCT signal intensity (dB) of alginate beads over 48 h of incubation. The OCT signal was averaged for an area covering a vertical depth of 150 μm (from the bead surface into the interior) and a lateral width of 100 μm and was used as a proxy for bacterial growth (see “Methods”). Bars represent average ± standard errors of the means from three replicates. Significant differences as indicated. *p > 0.05; **p ≤ 0.01; ***p ≤ 0.001