We study the interactions of bacterial cells with polymer surfaces of varying physico-chemical characteristics to understand and analyse the strategy of bacterial adsorption, adhesion, and biofilm development. With this approach we hope to identify surface properties that can be exploited to prevent extensive spreading of pathogens. We are exploiting the adhesion machinery of bacterial cells to build surface/peptide libraries for the detection of pathogenic strains. Polymer platforms are used as substrates for the immobilization of peptides and bacteria. We will develop a complex biofilm in vitro model to study the interactions between biofilm microbiota and eukaryotic cells. It will enable the investigation of complex developmental stages of biofilms and reveal the unique bacteria-host interactions at the cellular and the molecular level.

The full extend of how bacteria organize biomolecules is not understood. We study the interactions of bacterial biomolecules with membranes using a range of in vivo and in vitro assays. We are developing microchamber designs to analyse protein and lipid localisation in vivo. We are using a range of biophysical techniques to analyse protein-lipid interactions in vitro. One of our aims is to develop cell free expression platforms to characterize the behavior of shape-determining and cell division proteins in liposome environments - in collaboration with Dr. Toshihisa Osaki (The University of Tokyo) and Dr. Piotr Garstecki (Polish Academy of Sciences).

We are interested to understand how bacteria cells control their geometry and how bacterial cells are responding to morphological changes. We employ different microchamber designs to morph bacterial cells and track the morphological recovery.

We are using supported lipid bilayer systems to mimic biological membranes on different substrates (silicon dioxide, glass, polymer substrates) to understand protein-lipid interactions of membrane-bound and transmembrane proteins (prokaryotic and eukaryotic proteins).