Summary: The application of beneficial, plant‐associated microorganisms is a sustainable approach to improving crop performance in agriculture. However, microbial inoculants are often susceptible to prolonged periods of storage and deleterious environmental factors, which negatively impact their viability and ultimately limit efficacy in the field. This particularly concerns non‐sporulating bacteria. To overcome this challenge, the availability of protective formulations is crucial. Numerous parameters influence the viability of microbial cells, with drying procedures generally being among the most critical ones. Thus, technological advances to attenuate the desiccation stress imposed on living cells are key to successful formulation development. In this review, we discuss the core aspects important to consider when aiming at high cell viability of non‐sporulating bacteria to be applied as microbial inoculants in agriculture. We elaborate the suitability of commonly applied drying methods (freeze‐drying, vacuum‐drying, spray‐drying, fluidized bed‐drying, air‐drying) and potential measures to prevent cell damage from desiccation (externally applied protectants, stress pre‐conditioning, triggering of exopolysaccharide secretion, ‘helper’ strains). Furthermore, we point out methods for assessing bacterial viability, such as colony counting, spectrophotometry, microcalorimetry, flow cytometry and viability qPCR . Choosing appropriate technologies for maintenance of cell viability and evaluation thereof will render formulation development more efficient. This in turn will aid in utilizing the vast potential of promising, plant beneficial bacteria as sustainable alternatives to standard agrochemicals.

Neonatal sepsis is still a leading cause of death among newborns. Therefore a protein-microarray for point-of-care testing that simultaneously quantifies the sepsis associated serum proteins IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF alpha, S-100, PCT, E-Selectin, CRP and Neopterin has been developed. The chip works with only a 4 µL patient serum sample and hence minimizes excessive blood withdrawal from newborns. The 4 µL patient samples are diluted with 36 µL assay buffer and distributed to four slides for repetitive measurements. Streptavidin coated magnetic particles that act as distinct stirring detection components are added, not only to stir the sample, but also to detect antibody antigen binding events. We demonstrate that the test is complete within 2.5 h using a single step assay. S-100 conjugated to BSA is spotted in increasing concentrations to create an internal calibration. The presented low volume protein-chip fulfills the requirements of point-of-care testing for accurate and repeatable (CV < 14%) quantification of serum proteins for the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis.