BRIGE: Molecular Mechanisms of Bacterial Adhesion through Surface Biopolymers

EEC-0823901 Abu-lailBRIGE奖项通过增加ENG研究人员的多样性来保持全球竞争力，这些研究人员在职业生涯早期就开始了研究计划。Brige通过增加工程学毕业生的数量，改善女性和少数族裔在工程学领域的代表性，以及通过了解如何提高工程学学生的招生和留住能力，进一步扩大了工程学研究人员的参与范围。病原体最初附着在表面被认为是生物膜形成和随后感染的关键初步步骤。多年来，对依恋机制的研究主要集中在宏观层面上探索粗糙度、运动性等因素对依恋的影响。虽然这样的宏观研究可能非常有趣，但对细菌与表面相互作用的分子尺度研究可以详细说明附着的分子机制。尽管这种分子尺度的测量很重要，但细菌表面生物聚合物的分子性质与病原微生物对表面的粘附性之间并不存在明确的关系。在缺乏此类研究的推动下，本研究旨在初步了解细菌表面生物聚合物对单核细胞增多性李斯特菌最初附着到模型表面的分子影响。这一应用的中心假设是，单核细胞增多性李斯特氏菌的表面生物聚合物是重要的分子成分，它强烈影响细菌表面的电荷、润湿性和弹性，从而使这种微生物最初附着在表面。PI将利用原子力显微镜(AFM)研究单核细胞增多性李斯特菌表面生物聚合物在其初始附着表面上的分子效应。在附着力测量技术中，AFM是独一无二的，因为它能够在分子水平上量化细菌与表面之间的相互作用力，在液体介质中，模拟发生相互作用的分子水平。这项应用的结果将有助于研究人员设计新的有效预防和治疗细菌感染的策略。PI将把研究与教育活动结合起来，将数学和生物工程与培养不同背景的研究生和本科生结合起来。该教育计划将：1)为一个由一名研究生、两名高等工程学女学生和两名新生残疾本科生组成的学生团队提供辅导教学和研究经验；2)开发一个可纳入高级生物工程课程的教学模块，以加强学生对数学建模和曲线拟合的有效学习；以及3)与现有的NSF GK-12补助金合作，将动手实验纳入初中和高中学生的数学课程。教育活动的目的是加强参与学生的学习和奖学金，特别是那些在工程学方面代表性不足的学生，并培养他们的自我成长，成为更独立和终身的学习者和研究人员。参加这些教育活动的学生应该领略科学研究的兴奋，学会阅读和解释科学文献，学习设计、执行和分析实验，以口头和书面形式交流他们的发现，并在团队中良好地合作。最后，拓展动手实验有望提高初中生的数学成绩，激发他们对工程的兴趣。研究结果将通过研讨会、技术期刊论文和专业会议报告向科学界传播，并通过新闻稿向公众发布。这项布里奇拨款将扩大所有工程师的参与，并增加他们的机会，包括那些在工程学学科中代表性较低的群体。这笔布里奇补助金还将鼓励PI作为独立调查员积极和有竞争力地参与研究。

EEC-0823901Abu-lailBRIGE awards maintain global competitiveness by increasing the diversity of ENG researchers, who are initiating research programs early in their careers. BRIGE awards further the broaden participation of engineering researchers by increasing the number of engineering graduates, by improving the representation of women and minorities in engineering, and by understanding how to improve recruitment and retention of engineering students.Initial attachment of pathogenic bacteria to a surface is considered a key preliminary step in biofilm formation and subsequent infections. For many years, research to understand the attachment mechanisms focused on macroscale exploration of the effect of factors such as roughness and motility on the attachment. While such macroscale investigations can be very interesting, molecular-scale studies of bacterial interactions with surfaces can detail the molecular mechanisms of attachment. Despite the importance of such molecular-scale measurements, a clear relationship between the molecular properties of bacterial surface biopolymers and the adhesion of pathogenic microbes to surfaces does not exist. Motivated by the lack of such studies, this research aims to provide a preliminary understanding of the molecular effects of bacterial surface biopolymers on the initial attachment of Listeria monocytogenes to a model surface. The central hypothesis of this application is that surface biopolymers of L. monocytogenes are essential molecular components that strongly affect the bacterial surface charge, wettability, and elasticity and thus initial attachment of this microbe to surfaces. The PI will research the molecular effects of the surface biopolymers of L. monocytogenes on their initial attachment to surfaces using atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM is unique among adhesion measurement techniques in its ability to quantify the interaction forces between bacteria and surfaces at a molecular level in liquid media that mimics that in which interactions occur. The results of this application will be instrumental to researchers designing new effective preventive and treatment strategies to bacterial infections.The PI will intertwine the research with educational activities integrating mathematics and bioengineering with the training of graduate and undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds. The education plan will: 1) provide mentored teaching and research experiences to a team of students consisting of a graduate student, two upper-level women engineering students, and two freshman disabled undergraduate students; 2) develop a teaching module that can be incorporated into upper-level bioengineering courses to enhance effective student learning of mathematical modeling and curve fitting; and 3) collaborate with an existing NSF GK-12 grant to incorporate hands-on experiments in the mathematics curricula of middle and high school students. The educational activities are geared to enhance the learning and scholarship of the participating students, especially those underrepresented in engineering, and to nurture their self-growth to be more independent and lifelong learners and researchers. The participating students in these educational activities are expected to gain an appreciation for the excitement of scientific research, learn to read and interpret scientific literature, design, perform, and analyze experiments, communicate their findings in both oral and written format, and work well within a team. Finally, the outreach hands-on experiments are expected to strengthen the middle and high school students' performance in mathematics and stimulate their interests in engineering. The results of the research will be disseminated to the scientific community through seminars, technical journal papers, and professional conference presentations and to the general public through news releases.This BRIGE grant will broaden the participation of and increase opportunities for all engineers including those from groups underrepresented in the engineering disciplines. This BRIGE grant will also encourage the PI to become actively and competitively engaged in research as an independent investigator.