Red blood cells flowing in a blood vessel with green rods and green mats representing bacteria and nanoparticles floating in the fluid

Mathematical Models of Biofilms Interactions

Team: Georgie Sawyer (PhD CEE), Darryl Taylor (PhD CEE), Daniel Tento (BS ChE)

Alumni: Joshua Prince (PhD CEE 2024), Daniel Tento (BS ChE Northeastern U. 2022)

 

Problem

Biofilms increase communication between bacteria but also make it harder to remove them. Particularly, it is difficult to transport materials like nanoparticles, antibiotics and disinfectants into them. However, metallic nanoparticles accumulate in biofilms in estuary environments and this may be the entry to bioaccumulate through the food chain. While it is known how charge influences nanoparticle accumulation once they are inside the biofilm, it is unknown why they are attracted there originally. 

Hypothesis & Methods

Analytical modeling of fate and transport of nanoparticle from the bulk to the biofilm interior porosity

Experimental verification of these models will be conducted using hydrogels as a steady-state approximation

Potential Outcomes & Impact

Biofilm structures could remove nanoparticles from manufacturing waste streams and better environmental fate models

Publications, Presentations, Patents

  1. J. Prince and A-A. D. Jones, III, “Heterogenous Biofilm Mass-Transport Model Replicates Periphery Sequestration of Antibiotics in P. aeruginosa PAO1 Microcolonies” Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 2023 Nov 21;120(47):e2312995120 doi: 10.1073/pnas.2312995120 PubMed PMID: 37956290 
  2. A-Andrew D. Jones, III “Defending the Colony: Mathematical and Experimental Tools for Studying Pseudomonas aeruginosa”, The Ohio State University, Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Columbus, OH, 03/28/2025
  3. A-Andrew D. Jones, III “Defending the Colony: Mathematical and Experimental Tools for Studying Pseudomonas aeruginosa”, North Carolina State University – University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill Joint Biomedical Engineering Department, Raleigh, NC, 01/23/2025 (Invited)
  4. A-Andrew D. Jones, III “Defending the Colony: Mathematical and Experimental Tools for Studying Pseudomonas aeruginosa”, Dartmouth University, Giesel School of Medicine Microbiology and Infectious Disease Department, Hanover, NH 04/29/2024 (Invited).
  5. A-Andrew D. Jones, III “Defending the Colony: Mathematical and Experimental Tools for Studying Pseudomonas aeruginosa”, Pennsylvania State University, Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, State College, PA 03/14/2024 (Invited).
  6. A-Andrew D. Jones, III “Defending the Colony: Mathematical and Experimental Tools for Studying Pseudomonas aeruginosa”, Montana State University, Center for Biofilm Engineering, Virtual 11/02/2023 (Invited).
  7. A-Andrew D. Jones, III “Defending the Colony: Mathematical and Experimental Tools for Studying Pseudomonas aeruginosa”,Carnegie Mellon University, Chemical Engineering, Pittsburgh, PA 10/10/2023 (Invited).
  8. Joshua Prince and A-Andrew Jones "Mass-Transfer Relations for Nanoparticle Transport across Human-Biofilm Interface” 2020 AIChE Annual Meeting Virtual, 11/2020. (2nd Place Graduate Presentation Competition)
  9. A-A. D. Jones, III and C. R. Buie, “Continuous shear stress alters metabolism, mass-transport, and growth in electroactive biofilms independent of surface substrate transport,” Scientific Reports, 2019 Feb 22;9(1):2602 doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-39267-2 PubMed PMID: 30796283

Funding

Funded by a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health