Integrating electrophysiology and molecular biology to understand the role of cell membranes in bacterial responses to chill and osmotic stress

现代食品生产是由相互竞争的需求驱动的：消费者更喜欢“天然”的食品，即经过最少的加工和含有较少的防腐剂，最后，但安全。 因此，一个挑战是找到限制微生物生长的最小处理和防腐剂组。 目前用于确定微生物生长极限的方法是耗时的和经验性的。 我们将评估一种新方法（MIFE）在联合治疗下快速测量细菌生长极限的潜力。与此同时，我们将研究细胞，特别是细胞膜如何应对这些压力，为开发新的，最小的-但安全的-食品保存技术提供见解。

Modern food manufacture is driven by competing demands: consumers prefer foods that are 'natural', i.e. having received minimal processing and containing less preservatives, and last, but are safe. Thus, a challenge is to find minimal sets of treatments and preservatives that limit microbial growth. Current methods to for determining limits to microbial growth are time and consuming and empirical. We will assess the potential of a new method (MIFE) to rapidly measure limits of bacterial growth under combinations of treatments. At the same time we will study how cells, and in particular how the cell membrane, responds to these stresses to provide insights for the development of new, minimal - yet safe - food preservation technologies.