Flexible Microfluidics to study Antimicrobial Resistance of Gene edited Bacteria
By utilizing a low-cost engineering tool, we have created a microfluidic platform to study bacteria at the single cell level, allowing us to unlock insights into microbial physiology and genetics that would otherwise not be possible. The platform is composed of 3D devices made of adhesive tapes, an agarose membrane as the resting substrate, a temperature-controlled environmental chamber, and an autofocusing module. With this technology, we have been able to observe Escherichia coli morphological changes during ampicillin exposure and measure the minimum inhibitory concentration of the antibiotic. Additionally, we have been able to use CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) to evaluate gene regulation in a concentration gradient. Overall, our microfluidic platform provides a powerful, low-cost tool to uncover new genetic determinants of antibiotic susceptibility and assess the long-term effectiveness of antibiotics in bacterial cultures.
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- Agricultural biotechnology diagnostics (incl. biosensors)
- Agricultural biotechnology not elsewhere classified
- Agricultural molecular engineering of nucleic acids and proteins
- Genetically modified animals
- Genetically modified field crops and pasture
- Genetically modified horticulture plants
- Epigenetics (incl. genome methylation and epigenomics)
- Gene expression (incl. microarray and other genome-wide approaches)
- Gene mapping
- Genetics not elsewhere classified
- Genomics
- Biologically active molecules
- Biomolecular modelling and design
- Molecular medicine
- Proteins and peptides