Microorganisms-electric field interactions

MARIO SPECTOR; CECILIA SÁNCHEZ; GASTÓN MIÑO; EUGENIO BALBI; DIEGO M. CAMPANA

Córdoba

Congreso; II Brazil-Argentine Microfluidics Congress and V Congreso de Microfluídica Argentina; 2019

FAMAF-UNC

Bacterial transport has important impacts in both ecology and health care systems.In medicine, infectious processes can affect the body?s immunological responsesand can influence normal wound healing.Many techniques have been used in order to control or direct the transport ofbacteria. In particular, the use of galvanic current was proposed by Spector etal. (2015) aiming the transference of microorganisms from a contaminated metalplate to another sterile metal plate [1]. Even though the phenomena were observedmacroscopically, testing the transparency of the initial sterile culture media, themicroscopic dynamics of this process remains unclear.Following these questions, we have designed microdevices combining 3D printingand polidimetilsiloxane (PDMS) casting techniques in order to study the transport of bacterial suspension under the influence of electric fields. This work willpresent the prelaminar results on the interaction between microorganisms and theapplied electric force.