CAREER: MOTILITY OF MARINE BACTERIA: OBSERVING, MODELING, TEACHING AND PLAYING

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

In this research project, the investigator will study bacterial foraging in the marine environment by developing a state-of-the-art experimental technique integrating digital holographic microscopy and microfluidics, to obtain three dimensional trajectories of marine bacteria. This sophisticated technique will provide unprecedented access to (i) high-resolution information on bacterial swimming in 3D; and (ii) the ability to micromanipulate nutrient landscapes and quantify the resulting bacterial response. By combining observations with novel mathematical models based on a cost benefit approach to bacterial foraging, this research will: 1. provide the first quantitative description of the swimming strategies of marine Bacteria 2. quantify the foraging performance of motile marine bacteria 3. predict under what conditions and to what extent foraging of swimming bacteria affects turnover rates of dissolved organic matter in the ocean. The new technique to be pioneered as part of a CAREER award will have broad impact well beyond the proposed research, by breaking the traditional sizebarrier limiting ecological investigations at the microscale: the ability to systematically control a microorganism's environment using microfluidics, while capturing its detailed, 3D response with holography, unlocks access to a broad range of fundamental microbial processes. Their quantitative understanding is pivotal for our ability to correctly predict the future state of the oceans. At the same time, awareness of the importance of these microscale processes and the complexity of the marine ecosystem is a critical factor in educating the next generation of scientists and citizens to the delicate balance of the oceans and how human activities as well as global change hinge on it. This CAREER award will significantly contribute to this goal, by supporting a broad educational plan. Funding will support the interdisciplinary education of two Ph. D. students, international teaching and recruitment of minority students. The background and highlights of the proposed research will be shared with the public in talks and interviews by leveraging partnerships with important dissemination channels like Boston's Museum of Science. The core of the outreach program will be targeted at middle-school children, in the form of an original, educational video game (Virtual Microbe) that teachers will find freely available for use to integrate in their curricula and widely disseminated on high-impact, teacher-dedicated web portals of public television stations, including Maryland Public Television and WGBH.