Physical Intelligence

Magnetotactic bacteria powered biohybrids target e. coli biofilms

2017

Article

pi

icm


Biofilm colonies are typically resistant to general antibiotic treatment and require targeted methods for their removal. One of these methods includes the use of nanoparticles as carriers for antibiotic delivery, where they randomly circulate in fluid until they make contact with the infected areas. However, the required proximity of the particles to the biofilm results in only moderate efficacy. We demonstrate here that the nonpathogenic magnetotactic bacteria Magnetosopirrillum gryphiswalense (MSR-1) can be integrated with drug-loaded mesoporous silica microtubes to build controllable microswimmers (biohybrids) capable of antibiotic delivery to target an infectious biofilm. Applying external magnetic guidance capability and swimming power of the MSR-1 cells, the biohybrids are directed to and forcefully pushed into matured Escherichia coli (E. coli) biofilms. Release of the antibiotic, ciprofloxacin, is triggered by the acidic microenvironment of the biofilm, ensuring an efficient drug delivery system. The results reveal the capabilities of a nonpathogenic bacteria species to target and dismantle harmful biofilms, indicating biohybrid systems have great potential for antibiofilm applications.

Author(s): Stanton, Morgan M. and Park, Byung-Wook and Vilela, Diana and Bente, Klaas and Faivre, Damien and Sitti, Metin and Sánchez, Samuel
Journal: ACS Nano
Volume: 11
Number (issue): 10
Pages: 9968--9978
Year: 2017

Department(s): Physical Intelligence, Theory of Inhomogeneous Condensed Matter
Research Project(s):
Bibtex Type: Article (article)
Paper Type: Journal

DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b04128

BibTex

@article{doi:10.1021/acsnano.7b04128,
  title = {Magnetotactic bacteria powered biohybrids target e. coli biofilms},
  author = {Stanton, Morgan M. and Park, Byung-Wook and Vilela, Diana and Bente, Klaas and Faivre, Damien and Sitti, Metin and Sánchez, Samuel},
  journal = {ACS Nano},
  volume = {11},
  number = {10},
  pages = {9968--9978},
  year = {2017},
  doi = {10.1021/acsnano.7b04128}
}