Convergence: RAISE Dynamic Touch-based Bacteria-Device Two-Way Communication

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Biological cells interact with their surroundings by sensing and responding to a range of stimuli and cues. In the tissues of higher organisms, cells communicate with each other, leading to collective functions. Research on electrical and mechanical communication of mammalian cells has led to progress in tissue engineering and to an understanding of the workings of nerve and muscle. Eventually, this understanding might translate into devices that could restore sight or motor activity. This research project will study how bacterial cells interact mechanically and electrically with the surface of an electronic device, how cell-cell interactions produce a response at the device surface, and how signals from a device can be transmitted by bacterial cells to other bacterial cells. The outcomes of these experiments could further knowledge about how touch-based bacterial communication can be utilized to engineer functional device-integrated communities of bacteria. These research efforts could nucleate a new discipline at the intersection of microbiology, biomaterials, and nanoelectronics. The creation of new devices that integrate bacteria could benefit society through advancing the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals, smart logic-gated sensors, and bio-based filters for chemical remediation, energy conversion, and water purification. The research activities will add a new facet to workforce development and will foster a diverse community of scientists, internal and external to UMass, through team-based research, targeted workshops, and educational programs. The research team is committed to inspiring diverse K-12 students through the development of interdisciplinary teaching modules and weekend programs for high school students. This research project targets an understanding of how signals from a device or material are transmitted to and processed by bacteria, how intercellular communications can be intercepted and re-coded by devices, and how bacterial mechanotransduction and voltage responses play out at material interfaces. The program builds from a focus on device interactions with isolated cells to an understanding of how groups of cells interact with a device. Ultimately, the research will progress to a comprehension of the device interactions with an entire bacterial community. The project investigators will quantify timescales, length scales, and signal magnitudes relevant to mechanical and electrical interactions, targeting the basic principles of rapid bacterial-device communication. They will also address important issues in microbiology, including identifying changes in gene expression associated with the initial response to a given stimulus and in downstream single cell and group behaviors. This research project integrates cutting edge methods in microbiology, biomaterials, and nanoelectronics to target guiding scientific principles for engineering functional, device-integrated communities of bacteria. This research project also will impact the creation of new microscopy, prototype devices, and cellular reporters of gene activity that will more broadly advance science.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.