How bacteria form resistant aggregates and biofilms

这项研究旨在使用跨学科的方法来推进细菌聚集体和生物膜的基础知识。这些细菌簇是一个严重的问题，因为它们对消毒剂和抗生素具有非凡的抗性，目前没有有效的方法可以破坏它们。该项目的预期成果是剖析自动转运蛋白（最常见的细菌细胞表面蛋白）如何促进聚集和生物膜形成，并开发抑制剂来防止这些破坏性细菌簇的形成。最终，这些新知识将有助于解决工业、环境和生物医学生物膜日益增加的经济和社会负担。

This research aims to use interdisciplinary approaches to advance fundamental knowledge on bacterial aggregates and biofilms. These bacterial clusters are a significant problem as they have extraordinary resistance to disinfectants and antibiotics, and currently no effective methods are available to disrupt them. The expected outcomes of this project are to dissect how autotransporters, the most common group of bacterial cell-surface proteins, promote aggregation and biofilm formation, and to develop inhibitors that prevent the formation of these damaging bacterial clusters. Ultimately, this new knowledge will help address the increasing economic and social burden of industrial, environmental and biomedical biofilms.