A collaboration led by the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has been awarded a $1.6-million grant to study the formation of colonies of bacteria, with the goals of improving treatment of infections and exploring beneficial uses of bacteria in biofuels and other applications.
Gerard Wong, a professor in the bioengineering and chemistry departments, a member of the California NanoSystems Institute and the UCLA Center for Biological Physics, will lead a team that includes researchers from Oxford University, the University of Cologne and Dartmouth University. On March 19, the Human Frontier Science Program, based in France, announced the award.
Wong and his team will focus on the early stages of the formation of biofilms, or communities of bacteria that cluster together on surfaces such as living tissue, artificial hips and the hulls of ships. Bacteria in biofilms are as much as 1,000 times more resistant to antibiotics than they would otherwise be, and are more likely to cause life-threatening infections in humans.
Gerard Wong, a professor in the bioengineering and chemistry departments, a member of the California NanoSystems Institute and the UCLA Center for Biological Physics, will lead a team that includes researchers from Oxford University, the University of Cologne and Dartmouth University. On March 19, the Human Frontier Science Program, based in France, announced the award.
Wong and his team will focus on the early stages of the formation of biofilms, or communities of bacteria that cluster together on surfaces such as living tissue, artificial hips and the hulls of ships. Bacteria in biofilms are as much as 1,000 times more resistant to antibiotics than they would otherwise be, and are more likely to cause life-threatening infections in humans.
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