Dresden 2026 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 11: Franco-German Session: Bacterial Biophysics I

BP 11.4: Talk

Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 10:15–10:30, BAR/0106

Matrix-Microbe-Metabolite: Re-thinking transport phenomena in microbially-active soft matrices — •Juan Pablo Carmona Almazán¹ and Anupam Sengupta^1,2 — ¹Physics of Living Matter, Department of Physics and Materials Science, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg — ²Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg

The diffusion of biological metabolites through soft matrices is central to microbial biophysics, mediating healthy microbe-host interactions as well as diverse infections and biodegradation. An interplay of mechano-chemical cues, together with the microbe-induced remodeling of the local environments, impacts the metabolite transport in these settings. Yet, currently, we lack a mechanistic model of the Matrix-Microbe-Metabolite interactions. Here, we use a combination of high resolution imaging and quantitative image analysis techniques to study metabolite transport in diverse synthetic matrices with varying mechanical stiffness, composition, and biochemical complexity. Using suitable fluorescent probes as proxies, we quantify the transport kinetics in agarose as well as Matrigel, a model mammalian extracellular matrix. By interfacing atomic force microscopy, we map the results to the matrix structure, focusing on two key metabolites, formate and citrate. Finally, we embed bacterial cells to capture microbe-mediated impact on the diffusion kinetics, which together with the mechano-chemical datasets, provide a biophysical framework for active metabolite distribution in soft environments.

Keywords: Molecular diffusion; Polymeric matrices; Bacterial perturbations; Metabolite transport; Matrix mechanics