Edinburgh PhD: Bacterial Biofilm Matrix Remodelling in Complex and Dynamic Environments
Bacterial Biofilm Matrix Remodelling in Complex and Dynamic Environments
We are pleased to share this highly interdisciplinary PhD project available at the University of Edinburgh.
The most prevalent form of bacterial life on our planet are surface-associated communities known as biofilms. This behaviour is ubiquitous across the microbial world and a clear understanding of biofilm genesis, development, and maturation is important not only from a fundamental biological perspective but also impacts many industrial, clinical, and environmental sectors with an economic significance of more than $5000bn a year.
There is currently a concerted global research effort focused on preventing, detecting, managing, and engineering microbial biofilms either to exploit their beneficial properties or eliminate them when they are harmful or damaging.
A defining feature of biofilms is the production of an extracellular polymeric matrix that encases the community providing adhesive strength and mechanical structure to the population, acts as a scaffold for cellular organization and signaling, and can function as a shield against antimicrobial treatment and host immunity responses.
Recently, an Edinburgh research team discovered that Bacillus subtilis, a common soil-dwelling bacterium, dramatically changes its extracellular matrix composition in response to temperature. This suggests that B. subtilis can adapt and change its local environment in response to external cues. The aim of this PhD project is to determine whether and how matrix composition matters: does a given matrix provide better protection against competitor organisms or help colonise new environments? The successful candidate will uncover the mechanistic strategies and biophysical repercussions of B. subtilis matrix remodelling and adaptation when biofilms are exposed to dynamic environmental perturbations and stresses. To do this you they use methods such as microfluidics to tightly control the environment in time and space, better mimicking the complex environments where biofilms dwell in the natural world.
In this highly interdisciplinary project, the successful candidate will learn and deploy ideas and techniques from physics, microbiology, engineering and materials sciences during this PhD. You will also work in close collaboration with Prof. Nicola Stanley-Wall (Division of Molecular Microbiology, Dundee University) and Prof. Cait MacPhee (School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Edinburgh). The team links with us here at the National Biofilm Innovation Centre, which will provide many opportunities for training, career development, and networking.
The project supervisor, Dr Ryan Morris, welcomes informal enquiries about this project.
Further information can be found on the University of Edinburgh website.