Colloquium: Bacterial Biofilms: Navigating the Confluence between Physics and Biology

Date

Apr 22, 2024

Time

4:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Speaker

Prof. Eleonora Secchi

Affiliation

ETH Zurich

Series

MPI-PKS Kolloquium

Language

en

Main Topic

Physik

Other Topics

Physik

Description

Biofilms are communities of microorganisms that embed themselves in a matrix of self-secreted extracellular polymeric substances. The matrix protects the microbial community from chemical and mechanical insults, thus favoring its survival and evolutionary success. Biofilms are the primary mode of growth of bacteria and have a crucial impact in environmental, industrial, and medical settings. However, there is a significant lack of understanding about how the physical structure and chemical composition of biofilms determine their resistance to harsh environments. Our work focuses on the bio-physical drivers of biofilm assembly and the emergence of distinctive morphological and mechanical properties. I will showcase examples of biofilms grown under different environmental conditions, ranging from moist surfaces to surfaces exposed to fluid flow and porous media and by different bacterial species. For each case, I will present the experimental platform we developed to investigate the specific system and the results we obtained. Through our research, we discovered that the interplay between biological functions and physics mechanisms controls biofilm assembly, morphology, and rheology, ultimately affecting their physiological protective function. Shedding light on this interplay can help us control biofilm development and shows the prominent role that material science can play in developing novel antimicrobial and antifouling strategies.

Last modified: Apr 22, 2024, 7:37:31 AM