A5043515678- Micro and Nano Robotics
- Bacterial biofilms and quorum sensing
- Marine and coastal ecosystems
- Microfluidic and Bio-sensing Technologies
- Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Particle Dynamics in Fluid Flows
- Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
- Innovative Microfluidic and Catalytic Techniques Innovation
- 3D Printing in Biomedical Research
- Aquatic Ecosystems and Phytoplankton Dynamics
- Microfluidic and Capillary Electrophoresis Applications
- Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation
- Vibrio bacteria research studies
- Molecular Communication and Nanonetworks
- Aeolian processes and effects
- Coastal and Marine Dynamics
- Diatoms and Algae Research
- Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
- Cell Image Analysis Techniques
- Ecosystem dynamics and resilience
- Spaceflight effects on biology
- Antimicrobial Resistance in Staphylococcus
- Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes
- thermodynamics and calorimetric analyses
- Marine Biology and Ecology Research
University of Sheffield
2016-2025
University of Oxford
2014-2024
University of Liverpool
2023
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2007-2019
Parsons (United States)
2007-2011
University of Technology Sydney
2010
University of Arizona
2009
Thin layers of phytoplankton are important hotspots ecological activity that found in the coastal ocean, meters beneath surface, and contain cell concentrations up to two orders magnitude above ambient concentrations. Current interpretations their formation favor abiotic processes, yet many species these motile. We demonstrated formed when vertical migration was disrupted by hydrodynamic shear. This mechanism, which we call gyrotactic trapping, can be responsible for thin commonly observed...
Bacteria form dense surface-associated communities known as biofilms that are central to their persistence and how they affect us. Biofilm formation is commonly viewed a cooperative enterprise, where strains species work together for common goal. Here we explore an alternative model: biofilm response ecological competition. We co-cultured diverse collection of natural isolates the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa studied effect on formation. show strain mixing reliably increases...
Significance The overwhelming majority of bacteria live in porous environments, like soil, aquifers, and sediments, where they facilitate many important processes. Despite their importance, we understand little about how these complex environments shape the composition microbial communities that within them. Here, combine two diverse bodies theory—fluid dynamics game theory—to shed light on evolve habitats. We show face a fundamental dilemma: rely flow for nutrients dispersal; however, as...
The motility of microorganisms is often biased by gradients in physical and chemical properties their environment, with myriad implications on ecology. Here we show that fluid acceleration reorients gyrotactic plankton, triggering small-scale clustering. We experimentally demonstrate this phenomenon studying the distribution phytoplankton Chlamydomonas augustae within a rotating tank find it to be good agreement new, generalized model gyrotaxis. When implemented direct numerical simulation...
We show that gyrotactic motility within a steady vortical flow leads to tightly clustered aggregations of microorganisms. Two dimensionless numbers, characterizing the relative swimming speed and stability against overturning by vorticity, govern coupling between flow. Exploration parameter space reveals striking array patchiness regimes. Aggregations are found form few time scales, suggesting flows might be capable efficiently separating species with different characteristics.
Bacteria form surface-attached communities, known as biofilms, which are central to bacterial biology and how they affect us. Although bacteria often experience strong chemical gradients, it remains unclear whether single cells can effectively perform chemotaxis on surfaces. Here we use microfluidic gradients massively parallel automated tracking study the behavior of pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa during early biofilm development. We show that individual efficiently move toward...
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), in which acquisition of mecA [which encodes the cell wall peptidoglycan biosynthesis component penicillin-binding protein 2a (PBP2a)] confers resistance to β-lactam antibiotics, is major clinical concern. We show that, presence MRSA adopts an alternative mode division and shows altered architecture at septum. PBP2a can replace transpeptidase activity endogenous essential PBP2 but not that PBP1, responsible for distinctive native septal...
Abstract Swimming bacteria navigate chemical gradients using temporal sensing to detect changes in concentration over time. Here we show that surface-attached use a fundamentally different mode of during chemotaxis. We combined microfluidic experiments, massively parallel cell tracking and fluorescent reporters study how Pseudomonas aeruginosa senses pili-based ‘twitching’ chemotaxis on surfaces. Unlike swimming cells, found did not induce motility twitching cells. then quantified the...
AME Aquatic Microbial Ecology Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout JournalEditorsSpecials 59:161-168 (2010) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/ame01400 Chemotactic response of marine bacteria extracellular products Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus J. R. Seymour1,2,3,*, T. Ahmed1, W. M. Durham1, Stocker1 1Ralph Parsons Laboratory, Department Civil Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute Technology, 77...
Many species of motile phytoplankton can actively form long multicellular chains by remaining attached to one another after cell division. While swim more rapidly than single cells the same species, chain formation also markedly reduces phytoplankton's ability maintain their bearing. This suggests that turbulence, which acts randomize swimming direction, could sharply attenuate a chain's migrate between well-lit surface waters during day and deeper nutrient-rich at night. Here, we use...
The growth of microbial cultures in the laboratory often is assessed informally with a quick flick wrist: dense suspensions microorganisms produce translucent "swirls" when agitated. Here, we rationalize mechanism behind this phenomenon and show that same process may affect propagation light through upper ocean. Analogous to shaken test tubes, ocean can be characterized by intense fluid motion abundant microorganisms. We demonstrate swirl patterns arise elongated align preferentially...
The emergent dynamics of collective cellular movement are typically thought to depend on how cells interact with one another and the mechanisms used drive motility, both which exhibit remarkable diversity across different biological systems. Here we report experimental evidence a universal feature in patterns flow that spontaneously emerge groups collectively moving cells. Specifically, demonstrate flows generated by dog kidney cells, human breast cancer two strains pathogenic bacteria...
Bacteria commonly live in surface-associated communities where steep gradients of antibiotics and other chemical compounds can occur. While many bacterial species move on surfaces, we know surprisingly little about how such antibiotic affect cell motility. Here, study the behaviour opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa stable spatial several by tracking thousands cells microfluidic devices as they form biofilms. Unexpectedly, these experiments reveal that bacteria use pili-based...
Most bacteria live attached to surfaces in densely-packed communities. While new experimental and imaging techniques are beginning provide a window on the complex processes that play out these communities, resolving behaviour of individual cells through time space remains major challenge. Although number different software solutions have been developed track microorganisms, typically require users either tune large parameters or groundtruth volume data train deep learning model-both manual...
Abstract Planktonic bacteria navigate chemical gradients using temporal sensing to detect changes in concentration over time as they swim. Here we show that surface-attached use a fundamentally different mode of during chemotaxis. We combined microfluidic experiments, massively parallel cell tracking, and fluorescent reporters study how Pseudomonas aeruginosa senses pili-based “twitching” chemotaxis on surfaces. First, asked whether cells by exposing them generated via Taylor-Aris...
Clostridioides difficile is an important human pathogen, for which there are very limited treatment options, primarily the glycopeptide antibiotic vancomycin. In recent years, vancomycin resistance has emerged as a serious problem in several gram-positive pathogens, but high-level yet to be reported C . , although it not known if this due constraints upon evolution species. Here, we show that can evolve rapidly under ramping selection accompanied by fitness costs and pleiotropic trade-offs,...