Meso-scale modeling, analysis and simulation of bacterial biofilms

细菌，无论是有益的还是致病的，往往会在浸泡在水环境中的表面定居。这些细胞附着在表面，变成固着，并产生细胞外聚合物(EPS)，形成一层凝胶状的层，细菌本身就嵌在其中。菌落数量随着细胞分裂而增加，并发展出生动、高度组织化的微生物群落(称为生物膜)。细菌生物膜形成的地方，环境条件有利，营养物质可以维持微生物的生命。这种能力使生物膜成为地球上最成功的生命形式之一。生物膜可以使工程系统受益(主要是在废水处理、土壤修复、地下水保护等环境应用中)，也可能成为一种威胁(例如，医疗、食品安全、生物污染、生物腐蚀)。尽管它们的名字叫生物膜，但它们不是在均匀的层中形成的，但它们可以在高度不规则的形态中发展，比如集群和通道结构。人们已经认识到，除了现代高分辨率显微镜技术外，数学模型和计算机模拟也是深入了解生物膜过程复杂性的重要工具。

Bacteria, beneficial or pathogenic, tend to colonise surfaces that are immersed in aqueous environments. The cells attach to the surface, become sessile and produce extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) that form a gel-like layer in which the bacteria themselves are embedded. Colony numbers increase by cell division and vivid, highly organised microbial communities (termed biofilms) develop. Bacterial biofilms form wherever environmental conditions are favorable and nutrients are available to sustain microbial life. This ability makes biofilms one of the most successful life forms on earth. Biofilms can benefit engineered systems (mainly in environmental applications such as wastewater treatment, soil remediation, groundwater protection) or can become a threat (e.g, medical, food safety, biofouling, biocorrosion). Despite their name, biofilms do not form in homogeneous layers but they can develop in highly irregular morphologies like cluster-and-channel architectures. It has been recognized, that besides modern high resolution microscopy techniques, mathematical models and computer simulations are also important tools to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of biofilm processes.