Modelling antibiotic tolerance in liquid crystalline biofilms

Prof Giampaolo D'Alessandro (University of Southampton)

Monday 3rd June 14:00-15:00 Maths 311B

Abstract

Biofilms are bacterial colonies surrounded by an extra-cellular matrix (ECM), made of viruses, proteins and other molecules that protects them from the surrounding environment, e.g. from antibiotics.  As biofilms are everywhere, from our teeth to hospital catheters, understanding what causes the increased antibiotic resistance is of paramount importance.  Some biological studies have indicated that viruses in the ECM form a liquid crystalline phase and that this is associated to increased antibiotic resistance. In this talk I will give a brief introduction to biofilms and derive a microscopic model of antibiotic diffusion in them.  Using a simple example, I will introduce homogenisation theory and apply it to the microscopic model to obtain an effective large-scale model of antibiotic diffusion in the biofilm.  We will use this to understand the physics of diffusion and, in particular, the very significant effect that the antibiotic charge has on it.

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