Study of Bacterial Biofilms by Surface-enhanced Raman Microscopy

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jürgen Popp
• Subject Area: Physical Chemistry of Molecules, Liquids and Interfaces, Biophysical Chemistry
• Term: from 2017 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 392287292

Biofilms present a universal way of microbial life in a natural environment. They can grow on nearly every surface in contact with water. Besides cellular constituents, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are one major fraction of the biofilm matrix. The detailed knowledge about the chemical distributions of the EPS matrix is relevant e.g. for the optimization of biocides, of antifouling strategies and for biological wastewater treatment. A powerful approach to non-destructively investigate the detailed chemical information about the constituents of a biofilm on a micrometer scale is surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopic imaging. The main goals are:1. Design and synthesis of uniform, highly disperse and sensitive SERS nano-substrates;2. Real time, in vivo, simultaneous and multiplexed imaging studies of EPS constituents using SERS microscopy.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants