Functional Poly(Hydrosiloxane)-Based Microbial Nanoculture Systems
Microbes, including bacteria, fungi, and viruses, are a double-edged sword, causing infectious diseases and contributing to other non-infectious, chronic conditions. On other hand, microbes protect against infection and aid in digestion. Research on microbes is significantly impeded by current commercially available microbial culture systems, which suffer from hydrophobicity and lack of control of the polymer networks. This leads to significant difficulty in tuning the transport and mechanical properties of the material, which limits its use for drug delivery, growing certain microbial cultures, or studying microbial dynamics outside of a laboratory environment.
Description
Researchers have developed a new siloxane-based membrane to study microbial dynamics. These membranes have improved levels of permeability compared to commercially available membranes, and are reinforced through the incorporation of silica nanoparticles, enabling the nanoculture to withstand high shear stress as it would in environmental conditions while maintaining transport properties essential to communication and growth.Applications
· Safe delivery of beneficial microbial communities, e.g., probiotics· Growing unculturable microbes
· Performing in situ studies of microbial dynamics
Advantages
· Better permeability· Stronger mechanical properties capable of withstanding high shear stress
· Allows microbes to be grown under conditions more similar to their natural environment