Mixed Bacteria Clogging Dynamics in Microfluidic Devices

What is it about?

This research work analyzes the effects of the cultivation conditions (controlling the EPS synthesis), the hydrodynamics, and the bacterial species type on bacterial streamer formation by pure and mixed culture using microfluidic separators. Both EPS-producing and non-EPS producing bacteria are used for the analysis.

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Photo by Martin Martz on Unsplash

Photo by Martin Martz on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Biofouling through bacterial colonization of surfaces, most commonly at solid-liquid interfaces, is ubiquitous in nature resulting in devastating economic effects in natural and artificial systems such as in river beds, shipping industries, spring channels, water purification systems, clinical environments and medical devices, and hydrothermal vents. Hence, biofouling has been one of the focuses of scientific research in the last few decades. Furthermore, when under hydrodynamic stresses, bacterial communities form filamentous structures called streamers, which may cause catastrophic clogging in tortuous flow geometries. Full-fledged knowledge of streamer formation, evolution, maturation, and long-term fate is necessary to develop protective mechanisms in such socially and economically relevant systems. However, understanding the phenomena of bacterial streamer formation dynamics is a very critical scientific gap. Moreover, the biofoulings encountered in the economically relevant systems are comprised of mixed bacterial species with significant biophysical complexity, and very little understanding of the formation dynamics exists in the literature. In this study, we analyze the effects of the cultivation conditions (i.e., the EPS synthesis), the hydrodynamics, and the bacterial species type on the streamer formation dynamics by pure and mixed culture using micro-separators. The cultivation conditions influence the EPS synthesis which in turn significantly determines the streamer development. The extent of streamer formation is analyzed by using mixed bacterial culture and compared with the formation by pure culture. The experiments are performed at relatively high flow velocities using different flow geometries to investigate the effect of the hydrodynamics on the streamer formation. These experimental investigations on the biophysical aspects of the streamer formation phenomena reveal the unique attributes of the different factors considered and further highlight the prevailing challenges of the research area.

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