BPCPPDYSOE21 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 11: Poster A: Single Molecule, Multicellular, Bioimaging, Focus Sessions, etc.
BP 11.11: Poster
Montag, 22. März 2021, 16:30–19:00, BPp
Activity of hydrogel-encapsulated cells monitored by atomic force microscopy — •Mengxiao Li1,2, Kordula Schellnhuber1,2, Shardul Bhusari1,2, Johanna Blass1, Shrikrishnan Sankaran1, and Roland Bennewitz1,2 — 1INM - Leibniz for New Materials, Campus D22, 66123 Saarbrücken — 2Saarland University, Naturwissenschaftlich Technische Fakultät, 66123 Saarbrücken
Living materials are an emerging concept in biomaterial research. Living organisms become part of the material and equip it with tailored functions. For example, genetically engineered bacteria are encapsulated in hydrogels to release drugs when triggered by an external stimulus [1]. The aim of this study is to develop a new technique for highly sensitive measurements of mechanical perturbances arising from growth and motion of bacteria trapped in a thin hydrogel film by means of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). To probe the activity of E. coli bacteria enclosed in a pluronic diacrylate hydrogel, we contact its surface with a colloidal probe cantilever. Normal and lateral displacements of the contact caused by motion or division of bacteria are recorded for a contact time of 300s at various positions of the hydrogel surface. Over 24 hours, we observe an increase of the mechanical signals with time that we attribute to bacterial colony growth inside the hydrogel film. Characteristic time scales of the processes are determined by means of continuous wavelet transform.
[1] S. Sankaran et al., Small 15 (2019) 1804717.