Team (Past, Present, & Future)
Postdoctoral Associates: Sara Estevez, PhD (Nanotechnology, North Carolina A&T State University, 2018)
Graduate Students: D. Andrew Wrench (ITHEP Program)
Undergradutes: Kady Treviño (Microbiology student, University of Maryland, Colllege Park, NSURP scholar)
Alumni: Adewunmi Ade-Oyetayo (NEU, SB ChE 2022), Katherine Regis (NEU, SB Bio 2024), Vivian Zhang (NEU, SB ChE 2021, Present Medical Student, University of Maryland)
Problem
Antibiotics, disinfectants, and peptides are generally tested against single species bacteria biofilms on agar or animal models and their stress response is always measured in a single species, while multispecies biofilms show cooperation against agonist.
Hypothesis & Methods
- Construct three - species species bacterial biofilms with skin-like proportions on 3D printed skin/engineered skin and create protocol for real-time series growth analysis and correlation with viability, cell membrane phenotyping, ATP, protein and eps production
- Determine how species modulate multispecies species biofilms response to antibiofilm peptide/antibiotic combination therapy
- Determine if game theory models of cooperation and policing describe the bacterial response in a three species
Potential outcomes & Impact
- Improved understanding of how bacteria and cells interact
- Potential protocols for testing skin infections, diabetic wounds, burn wounds
Publications, Presentations, and Patents
Jones & Buie, Sci Rep, 2019; Wang, et al, Sci Adv, 2019; Roy, Jones, Webster, Translational Medicine, 2018 Jones et al., Under review
Funding
- Funded by a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health