Centres for Doctoral Training

Microbial cities: understanding how polymicrobial biofilms build and function.

Supervisors: 

Leonardo Mancini, MVLS/BOHVM

Nikola Gategaard, College of Science and Engineering/James Watt School of Engineering

 

PHD Project Summary:

Microbial communities play a key role in human health and disease by forming biofilms: structured, surface-attached assemblies that are highly resistant to treatment and mechanical removal. While traditionally studied as single-species systems, biofilms in the body are typically polymicrobial, combining multiple species of bacteria and fungi into complex, adaptive materials with poorly understood properties.

This PhD project will explore how such polymicrobial biofilms form, organize, and acquire their unique physical characteristics. Focusing on a well-established model community of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans, the research will investigate how environmental factors such as fluid flow, spatial confinement, and surface mechanics influence biofilm architecture and function.

Using advanced fluorescence microscopy and single-cell analysis, you will quantify how different species distribute, interact, and contribute to the biofilm. By linking composition and environmental conditions to emergent properties such as adhesion, viscoelasticity, and resistance to removal, the project aims to build a predictive framework for these complex living systems.

This interdisciplinary PhD sits at the interface of biophysics, microbiology, and materials science, offering training in sterile laboratory techniques, microfabrication, imaging and quantitative analysis. The outcomes will provide fundamental insights into infection biology and could inform new strategies to control microbial communities.