Abstract: The invention relates to a device (200) for the optical characterization of fluids and/or objects enclosed therein in a microchannel (13), comprising a measuring cell (10, 120), wherein the microchannel (13) is guided through the measuring cell (10, 120), characterized in that the measuring cell (10, 120) is filled with a liquid (14), the microchannel (13) is located within the measuring cell (10, 120) in the fluid (14), the fluid and/or objects enclosed therein are movable in the microchannel (13), and the microchannel (13) is movable within the measuring cell (10, 120) and/or the measuring cell (10, 120) with the microchannel (13) is movable manually or automatically. The invention further relates to a measuring cell (10, 120) for the device (200) and methods for optical characterization of fluids and/or objects enclosed therein in a microchannel (13) by means of the device (200).

Abstract: The invention relates to methods for individually separating microorganisms from a suspension or culture, parallel cultivation of individual cells and analyzing the metabolic performances thereof. The invention enables basic microbial operations such as media optimization, screening according to images of novel natural substances and special metabolic performances, qualitative and quantitative detection of the effects of nutrient substrates, effectors and active substances including the media optimization and selection of microorganism clones with specific properties from large populations according to mutagenesis, transformation, transfection and genetic processing in addition to the detection of microbial contaminations to be carried out.