Collaborative Research: Bacteria surface sensing and biofilm development

细菌生物膜是多细胞群落，具有协调的集体行为和紧急模式的形成。它们普遍存在于卫生和工业问题中，如抗菌素耐药性、感染和水管和船体的生物污染，造成严重的经济负担，因此在日常生活中构成了重要和突出的挑战。细胞的许多功能，包括粘附、迁移和多细胞组织，都可以通过细胞环境的物理性质的变化而改变。细胞感知和响应物理刺激的物理和分子机制尚不清楚。本提案的目的是开发一种合成水凝胶体系，并将其用于评估基质力学对生物膜发育的影响。该项目的研究结果将为生物膜的生长机制以及如何控制其行为提供深入的见解。此外，该项目培养了多样化的本科生和研究生，并为高中教师实习提供了研究机会。实习教师参与实验室正在进行的研究项目，以及实验室和部门研讨会，以促进教育和研究的思想交流。此外，他们正在根据自己的项目开发一套课程，并将其应用于自己的课堂。本项目的总体目标是确定细胞微环境的物理特性如何调节黄粘球菌内的生物膜发育。这类研究的一个主要限制是缺乏适当的体外材料来量化底物力学系统变化对生物膜发育的影响。该项目创造了新的合成水凝胶系统，具有明确的可调化学和机械性能，并利用它们来确定细胞对特定化学和机械刺激的直接反应。细菌-底物相互作用的模型以前所未有的方式进行了测试。该项目整合了实验和计算方法，以建立和测试细菌生物膜发育的预测模型以及细胞环境所起的功能作用。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Bacterial biofilms are multicellular communities that display coordinated collective behaviors and emergent pattern formations. They present an important and outstanding challenge in daily life in view of their prevalence in health and industrial problems such as antimicrobial resistance, infection and biofouling of water pipes and ship hulls, which pose severe economic burdens. Many functions of the cell, including adhesion, migration, and multicellular organization, can be altered by changes in the physical properties of the cellular environment. The physical and molecular mechanisms by which cells sense and respond to physical stimuli are poorly understood. The aim of this proposal is to develop a synthetic hydrogel system and use it for assessing the effects of substrate mechanics on biofilm development. The results of this project will provide insight into mechanisms of biofilm growth and how to control its behavior. Furthermore, this project trains a diverse set of undergraduate and graduate students as well as provides research opportunities for high school teacher interns. Teacher-interns participate in on-going research projects in the lab as well as in laboratory and department seminars to facilitate exchange of ideas on education and research. In addition, they are developing a curriculum, based on their projects, that is applied in their own classrooms.The overarching goal of this project is to determine how physical properties of the cellular microenvironment regulate biofilm development within Myxococcus xanthus. A major limitation in this type of study is a lack of appropriate in vitro materials to quantify the effects of systemic changes in substrate mechanics on biofilm development. This project creates new synthetic hydrogel systems, with well-defined tunable chemical and mechanical properties, and uses them to determine the direct response of cells to specific chemical and mechanical stimuli. Models of bacteria-substrate interactions are tested in unprecedented ways. The project integrates experimental and computational approaches, to build and test predictive models of bacterial biofilm development and the functional roles played by the cellular environment.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.