Developing Methods for Two-Way Communication to Explore the Dynamic Sense of Touch in Bacteria*

Living organisms usually utilize chemical or biomolecular signals that travel relatively slowly. However, bacterial cells can respond very quickly, yielding interesting opportunities for interfacing with bacteria. In this work, we study the bacterial sense of touch to establish the new research area of sensory-based bacterial communication. The focus is on fast two-way transmission of mechanical and electrical signals between bacteria and man-made devices. Bacterial touch acts through mechanical and electrical stimuli at timescales much less than chemical- and nutrient-based bacterial interactions. Employing high resolution microscopy with a flow cell system, we investigate the adsorption rate and growth of E. coli on different surfaces such as poly-l-lysine coated surface and hydrophobic. We use indium tin oxide coated glass as electrodes to apply electric stimulus on bacterial and measure the response. Using biomolecular engineering, we investigate the response to stimuli based on their gene expression.