Seeing is believing, observing bacterial biofilm formation in vivo

大多数细菌在自然环境中以生物膜的形式生长。这对金黄色葡萄球菌等病原体尤为重要，金黄色葡萄球菌因生长在关节置换等植入物上而臭名昭著。这样的生物膜很难用抗生素治疗，通常意味着植入物需要被移除。该项目将汇集最先进的成像方法来确定生物膜是如何在感染过程中形成的。斑马鱼S.金黄色葡萄球菌的发病机制是谢菲尔德独有的，因为胚胎是透明的，所以提供了一个观察疾病的窗口。该项目将使用细菌荧光标记和实时显微镜相结合来观察体内生物膜的形成，以确定生物膜形成中重要的成分以及它们是如何表达的。抗菌干预的作用将使用斑马鱼模型在体内可视化。这些实验将为理解和控制哺乳动物中重要的耐药病原体如沙门氏菌的生物膜形成提供信息。金黄色

Most bacteria grow as biofilms in their natural environment. This is particularlyimportant for pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, which is notorious forgrowing on implants such as joint replacements. Such biofilms are extremelydifficult to treat with antibiotics and often means the implant needs to beremoved. The project will bring together state-of-the-art imaging approaches todetermine how biofilms are made during an infection. The zebrafish embryomodel of S. aureus pathogenesis is unique to Sheffield and offers a window ondisease, as the embryos are transparent. The project will visualise biofilmformation in vivo using a combination of fluorescent labelling of bacteria andreal-time microscopy to determine components important in biofilm formationand how they are expressed. The action of antimicrobial interventions will bevisualised in vivo using the zebrafish model. The experiments will be used toinform approaches for understanding and controlling biofilm formation inmammals by such an important antimicrobial resistant pathogen as S. aureus