Spatially Structured Synthetic Consortia of Microbes to Understand and Engineer Cells in 3D Environments

项目摘要/摘要 自然栖息地中的微生物大多在生物膜的3D空间中成群存在，空间分布 异质性对这些多物种的稳定、沟通和功能起着关键作用 财团。然而，一个合适的平台来建立一个合成的细菌群落并系统地改变 空间参数来推断三维微生物群落-细胞表型中的关键基础知识， 目前缺乏分化、交流、基因表达和新陈代谢。我的研究计划 目的是(1)开发一个打印平台，以构建具有明确聚合物的3D微生物联合体，(2)研究 限制在这些3D环境中的细胞的生理学，以及(3)工程细胞及其3D排列 生产具有有用功能的生物材料。我们的研究成果将是：(1)新的 对具有3维空间背景的微生物群落的基本知识和理解以及(2) 对人类健康有直接贡献的功能性生物材料。我们的贡献将是巨大的，并将 通过填补我们在理解和工程能力方面的关键知识缺口，产生持久的影响 与生物医学科学相关的微生物协会。

Project Summary/Abstract Microbes in natural habitats mostly exist in groups arranged in the 3D space of biofilms, and spatial heterogeneity plays a key role in the stabilization, communication, and functions in these multi-species consortiums. However, a proper platform to build a synthetic community of bacteria and systematically vary the spatial parameter to deduce key fundamental knowledge in 3D microbial consortia – cellular phenotype, differentiation, communication, gene expression, and metabolism – is currently lacking. My research program aims to (1) develop a printing platform to construct 3D microbial consortia with well-defined polymers, (2) study the physiology of cells confined in these 3D environments, and (3) engineer cells and their 3D arrangement to yield biomaterials performing useful functions. The outcomes of our research endeavor will be (1) new fundamental knowledge and understanding of microbial consortia with a 3-dimensional spatial context and (2) functional biomaterials directly contributing to human health. Our contributions will be significant and have a long-lasting impact by filling in the critical knowledge gap in our understanding and engineering capability of microbial consortia relevant to biomedical science.