It has only recently been recognized that bacteria, including the staphylococci, often exist as sessile organisms, attached to surfaces as highly complex and organized communities termed biofilms. These communifies are encased in matrices comprised of polysaccharides, proteins, and/or genomic DNA and are exposed to a remarkable variety of environmental conditions. Given that the study of bacterial biofilm is still relatively new, especially when considering staphylococcal biofllm, there exists a wide range of techniques and strategies to grow and analyze these complex structures. Not surprisingly, this variability makes it difficult to compare results from experiment to experiment and inhibits progress in understanding biofllm biology. To provide uniform and consistent strategies for the growth and analysis of biofilm, we propose a Core that will provide common biofllm growth equipment and analytical strategies for the participants of this PPG.
Specific Aim 1 of this Core will be to house and maintain equipment needed for biofilm growth and will include the purchase and maintenance of biofllm growth systems that will be extensively used by all four projects involved in this PPG. In addition, it will also maintain an anaerobic chamber for use in Projects 1 and 2.
Specific Aim will develop and maintain standardized protocols for biofilm growth and will serve to provide the protocols and expertise needed to produce consistent and reproducible biofllm results for all four Projects. Finally, Specific Aim 3 will be to acquire the technology needed for the analysis and impact of biofilm on the host. The goals of this aim will be to provide a microprobe detection system needed to detect fluctuations in speciflc metabolites produced during biofilm development, as well as a quanfitafive real-fime PCR system to measure changes in gene expression. It will also provide a Luminex Multi-analyte Detecfion system to follow the production of multiple inflammatory mediators during staphylococcal infection. Combined, these aims will make available the fundamental technology and expertise needed to carry-out all four projects described in this PPG and will help to ensure that reproducible results are obtained from project to project.
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