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。这对于像金黄色葡萄球菌这样的病原体尤其重要，这种细菌以生长在关节置换物等植入物上而臭名昭著。这种生物膜极难用抗生素治疗，通常意味着需要移除植入物。该项目将结合最先进的成像方法来确定感染过程中生物膜是如何形成的。斑马鱼金黄色葡萄球菌的发病机制模型是谢菲尔德独有的，因为胚胎是透明的，所以为疾病提供了一个窗口。该项目将使用细菌荧光标记和实时显微镜相结合的方法来可视化生物膜在体内的形成，以确定生物膜形成中的重要成分以及它们是如何表达的。抗菌素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金黄色葡萄球菌等重要的抗微生物病原体在哺乳动物体内形成生物膜提供方法

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