Development and validation of a microfluidic reactor for biofilm monitoring via optical methods

We present the design, fabrication, and verification of a microfluidic platform for optical monitoring of bacterial biofilms. Biofilm formation characterizes the majority of infections caused by bacteria that are developing increased resistance to traditional antibiotic treatment, necessitating the development of reliable tools not only for study of biofilm growth, but also for in situ examination of the response to applied stimuli. The presented platform was used to continuously and non-invasively observe the dependence of Escherichia coli biofilm formation on bacterial signaling by monitoring the change in biofilm optical density over the growth period. Results were corroborated by measurement of biofilm morphological properties via confocal microscopy, and statistical analysis was applied to verify the repeatability of observed optical and morphological differences in the biofilms formed. The presented platform will be used to characterize biofilm formation and response in drug discovery applications.

[1]  Michael C. McAlpine,et al.  Electrical detection of pathogenic bacteria via immobilized antimicrobial peptides , 2010, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[2]  A. Jayaraman,et al.  Co-culture of epithelial cells and bacteria for investigating host-pathogen interactions. , 2010, Lab on a chip.

[3]  William E Bentley,et al.  Cross species quorum quenching using a native AI-2 processing enzyme. , 2010, ACS chemical biology.

[4]  A. Mak,et al.  A polyethylene glycol (PEG) microfluidic chip with nanostructures for bacteria rapid patterning and detection , 2009 .

[5]  A. Jayaraman,et al.  Modeling Growth and Quorum Sensing in Biofilms Grown in Microfluidic Chambers , 2009, Annals of Biomedical Engineering.

[6]  William E Bentley,et al.  AI‐2 biosynthesis module in a magnetic nanofactory alters bacterial response via localized synthesis and delivery , 2009, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[7]  Tobin J Dickerson,et al.  Interspecies and interkingdom communication mediated by bacterial quorum sensing. , 2008, Chemical Society reviews.

[8]  Woo Y. Lee,et al.  Microfluidic devices for studying growth and detachment of Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms , 2008, Biomedical microdevices.

[9]  Peter Ertl,et al.  Development of a microfluidic biochip for online monitoring of fungal biofilm dynamics. , 2007, Lab on a chip.

[10]  Jun Li,et al.  Quorum Sensing in Escherichia coli Is Signaled by AI-2/LsrR: Effects on Small RNA and Biofilm Architecture , 2007, Journal of bacteriology.

[11]  G. Whitesides,et al.  Microfabrication meets microbiology , 2007, Nature Reviews Microbiology.

[12]  P. Abshire,et al.  On-Chip Capacitance Sensing for Cell Monitoring Applications , 2007, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[13]  Thomas K. Wood,et al.  Autoinducer 2 Controls Biofilm Formation in Escherichia coli through a Novel Motility Quorum-Sensing Regulator (MqsR, B3022) , 2006, Journal of bacteriology.

[14]  James J. Valdes,et al.  Mapping Stress-Induced Changes in Autoinducer AI-2 Production in Chemostat-Cultivated Escherichia coli K-12 , 2001, Journal of bacteriology.

[15]  R. Bakke,et al.  Quantification of biofilm accumulation by an optical approach. , 2001, Journal of microbiological methods.

[16]  B. Ersbøll,et al.  Quantification of biofilm structures by the novel computer program COMSTAT. , 2000, Microbiology.

[17]  B. Ersbøll,et al.  Experimental reproducibility in flow-chamber biofilms. , 2000, Microbiology.

[18]  K. Swope,et al.  The use of confocal scanning laser microscopy and other tools to characterize Escherichia coli in a high-cell-density synthetic biofilm. , 2000, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[19]  C. Potera.  Forging a Link Between Biofilms and Disease , 1999, Science.

[20]  J. Costerton,et al.  The involvement of cell-to-cell signals in the development of a bacterial biofilm. , 1998, Science.

[21]  F. Rombouts,et al.  Modeling of the Bacterial Growth Curve , 1990, Applied and environmental microbiology.

[22]  P. Stewart,et al.  Mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in bacterial biofilms. , 2002, International journal of medical microbiology : IJMM.