The interest of applied scientists and engineers in the area biofilms now supersedes the goal of avoiding their formation:  The growth of bacteria on surfaces is important in energy applications and waste remediation.  To this end we explore the impact of surface features, in particular nanotopography and mechanics on bacterial behavior in the initial <u>several</u> steps of biofilm formation, including the initial capture of bacterial cell on surfaces and the development of adhesive interactions in the first minutes of surface residence.   Studies were done in gentle flow to control the interfacial forces and to make clear the precise instants in which cells became engaged with a surface.  First, the near surface behavior of round (S. aureus) and capsular (E. coli) bacteria is compared near brushes of varied density and chemically similar crosslinked gels of varied crosslink density and modulus.  It is found that as bacterial progress in flow along these minimally adherent surfaces, they experience intermittent contacts, time off the surface, and re-engagement with the surface that exhibits trends with crosslink density and brush thickness/softness.  The round S. aureus bacteria are particularly regular in their intermittent contacts even though they never arrest on PEG surfaces.  On surfaces containing cationic features, raising the features a few nanometers facilitates adhesion, presumably due to hydrodynamic features.  The subsequent increase in bacterial binding, however, is strongly dependent in its kinetics on the surface distribution and density of positive charge.<br/>

Dynamic bacterial response to engineered surface features

252nd National Meeting (2016)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.