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PhD ceremony Ms. E.S. Ovchinnikova: Physical-chemical interactions between bacteria and fungi

When:We 08-05-2013 at 14:30

PhD ceremony: Ms. E.S. Ovchinnikova, 14.30 uur, Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Dissertation: Physical-chemical interactions between bacteria and fungi

Promotor(s): prof. H.C. van der Mei, prof. H.J. Busscher

Faculty: Medical Sciences

In nature, microorganisms not only form mono-species biofilms, but they also co-exist within complex polymicrobial communities, containing both commensals and opportunistic pathogens. The bacterial strains Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus and the fungus Candida albicans often play a role in infections in the human body. Despite the fact that fungal-bacterial interactions have been investigated extensively, there is still limited information on the interplay between physico- and bio-chemical mechanisms that mediate their interaction. In this thesis the nature of the adhesion forces between P. aeruginosa, S. aureus and different C. albicans morphologies, based on surface thermodynamics and atomic force microscopy (AFM), was investigated. Thermodynamic modeling was used to evaluate the nature of the adhesion forces between two microbial surfaces by calculating the interfacial free energy of the interacting organisms. Direct measurement of adhesion forces between microorganisms were performed using AFM.

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