Bulletin of the American Physical Society
67th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics
Volume 59, Number 20
Sunday–Tuesday, November 23–25, 2014; San Francisco, California
Session E6: Biofluids: Biofilms and Microenvironments |
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Chair: Jiang Sheng Room: 3010 |
Sunday, November 23, 2014 4:45PM - 4:58PM |
E6.00001: Low Reynolds Number Biofilm Streamers Form as Highly Viscous Liquid Jets Aloke Kumar, Mahtab Hassanpourfard, Siddhartha Das There are recent experimental investigations that suggest that in presence of low Reynolds number ($Re\ll1$) transport, preformed bacterial biofilms may deform into filamentous structures termed as streamers. Streamer formation time-scales usually far exceed reported rheological relaxation time scales for biofilms. Here we propose a theory that hypothesizes that streamers form due to the viscous response of the viscoelastic biofilms. The theoretical model is based on a stability analysis and can accurately explain hitherto unresolved issues, such as extremely large time needed for appearance of streamers and exponential growth of streamer dimensions after it has formed. We also provide results from our own initial experiments that indicate towards the validity of this ``liquid-state'' hypothesis. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, November 23, 2014 4:58PM - 5:11PM |
E6.00002: Bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation over a substrate with micro printed oily patches Maryam Jalali, Jian Sheng Over the past few years, there has been a significant focus on the processes involved in biodegradation of crude oil. In prior studies, using soft lithography and surface functionalization, we have fabricated solid substrates with micro-scale chemical patterns, and applied them to studying the bacteria-surface interactions as well as the formation of biofilm over these micro-patterned surfaces. A strong correlation between biofilm morphology and substrate patterns was found. In our current work we investigate the bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation of hydrocarbon degrading bacteria on micro printed oily surfaces with different micro-scale textures. The oily patterns were formed by contact printing of crude oil on a glass substrate with PDMS stamps. The oil patterned surface is additionally combined with a microfluidics as its bottom substrate. This unique lab-on-a-chip device allows us to investigate the complex interactions microscopically and over a long time. Additionally, it allows us to conduct experiments to elucidate the dynamic interactions such as swimming, dispersion, attachment, detachment, and adsorption between bacteria and micro printed oily surfaces under flow conditions \textit{in-situ}. The growth rates and morphology of bacterial colony and biofilm are also studied and reported. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, November 23, 2014 5:11PM - 5:24PM |
E6.00003: Application of micro-PIV to the study of staphylococci bacteria biofilm dynamics Erica Sherman, Derek Moormeier, Kenneth Bayles, Timothy Wei Staphylococci bacteria are recognized as the most frequent cause of biofilm-associated infections. A localized staph infection has the potential to enter the bloodstream and lead to serious infections such as endocarditis, pneumonia, or toxic shock syndrome. Changes in flow conditions, such as shear stress, can lead to stable biofilm growth or the dispersion of portions of the biofilm downstream. Exploration of biofilm physiology indicates a link between production of a specific enzyme called nuclease and biofilm architecture -; however the physical impact of this enzyme in directing the location and behavior of biofilm growth remains unclear. This talk investigates the link between sites of nuclease production and the development of biofilm tower structures using the application of micro-PIV and fluorescently labeled bacterial cells producing nuclease. \textit{Staphylococcus aureus} bacteria were cultured in a BioFlux1000 square microchannel of a 65 by 65 um cross section, and subjected to a steady shear rate of 0.6 dynes. Micro-PIV and nuclease production measurements were taken to quantify the flow over a biofilm tower structure prior and during development. Data were recorded around the structure at a series of two dimensional planes, which when stacked vertically show a two dimensional flow field as a function of tower height. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, November 23, 2014 5:24PM - 5:37PM |
E6.00004: Effect of low Reynolds number flow on the quorum sensing behavior of sessile bacteria Francois Ingremeau, Kevin Kim MinYoung, Bonnie Bassler, Howard Stone Sessile and planktonic bacteria can be sensitive to the bacteria cell density around them through a chemical mediated communication called quorum sensing. When the quorum sensing molecules reach a certain value, the metabolism of the bacteria changes. Quorum sensing is usually studied in static conditions or in well mixed environments. However, bacteria biofilms can form in porous media or in the circulatory system of an infected body: quorum sensing in such flowing environment at low Reynolds number is not well studied. Using microfluidic devices, we observe how the flow of a pure media affects quorum sensing of bacteria attached to the wall. The biofilm formation is quantified by measuring the optical density in brightfield microscopy and the quorum sensing gene expression is observed through the fluorescence of a green fluorescent protein, which is a reporter for one of the quorum sensing genes. We measured without flow the amount of Staphylococcus aureus biofilm when the quorum sensing gene expression starts. In contrast, when the media is flowing in the microchannel, the quorum sensing expression is delayed. This effect can be understood and modelled by considering the diffusion of the quorum sensing molecules in the biofilm and their convection by the flowing media. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, November 23, 2014 5:37PM - 5:50PM |
E6.00005: Mixture Theory Study of Role of Growth Factor Gradients on Breast Cancer Chemotaxis Sreyashi Chakraborty, Mary Schuff, Elizabeth Voigt, Eric Nauman, Marissa Rylander, Pavlos Vlachos The transport of chemotactic agents is strongly influenced by variation in interstitial flows in different types of tissue. The mixture theory model of the fluid and solute transport in the microvasculature of tissues accounts for transport in the vessel lumen, vessel wall and the interstitial space separately. In the present study we use this model to develop a three dimensional geometry of the tumor microenvironment platform incorporating a physiological concentration of growth factor protein through blood flow in an extracellular collagen matrix. We quantify chemotaxis in response to solute gradients of varying magnitude formed by diffusion of proteins into the surrounding collagen. The numerical analysis delineates the dependence of hydraulic permeability coefficient on solute concentration. The preliminary results show the existence of a linear concentration gradient in the central plane between the micro-channels and a strong nonlinear gradient at the remaining parts of the system. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, November 23, 2014 5:50PM - 6:03PM |
E6.00006: Microbial transport through porous media: The importance of the microscale Pietro de Anna, Yutaka Yawata, Roman Stocker, Ruben Juanes Bacteria play a key role in a plethora of subsurface processes, from geothermal energy, to enhanced oil recovery, to bioremediation. These large-scale consequences arise from microscale interactions within the highly heterogeneous subsurface environment. In particular, flow generates strong chemical gradients at the pore-scale and we hypothesized that, by actively responding to these microscale gradients, bacteria significantly change their transport properties at the macro-scale. We tested this hypothesis using video microscopy of Bacillus subtilis in microfluidic replica of porous media. We found that the bacteria's motility and chemotaxis resulted in a two-fold increase in their ability to spread in the pore volumes, as a result of active migration out of micro-pockets of stagnant fluid. These findings illustrate that microscale flow heterogeneity has strong implications for the transport of biota through the subsurface, and thus likely for the biogeochemical processes they mediate. [Preview Abstract] |
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