Physics versus Hospital Superbugs

08/10/2015 09:30 – 10:30

Speaker : Gabriel Aeppli
PSI, ETH Zurich & EPFL
Place : IZTECH Library Conference Hall

Abstract
The growth of the antibiotic-resistant superbug, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is driving the development of new technologies to investigate antibiotics and their modes of action. We report silicon cantilever based studies of self-assembled monolayers of mucopeptides which model drug-sensitive and resistant bacterial walls.  The underlying concepts needed to understand the measurements will simplify the design of cantilevers and coatings for biosensing and could even impact our understanding of drug action on bacteria themselves. Finally we describe how cantilever-based biosensing could be transformed from a research technique to a tool for a pharmacology and clinical diagnostics.

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