Growth Characteristics of Pseudomonas Biofilms in Different Types of Gels

A common cause of medical infections and failures is the formation of bacterial biofilms, which are produced by bacteria when attached to a surface. To study the characteristic growth patterns of catheter-infecting bacteria, we observed common pathogen Pseudomonas Aeruginosa at attachment periods of 2 hours and 24 hours after inoculation on gel surfaces of different concentrations. We saw significantly higher amounts of bacteria after two hours than after twenty-four hours, suggesting that bacteria die or detach over time. In a current study, we make use of data left from previous researches to observe bacterial attachment to a different kind of gel, the poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogels, to compare to the agar-based gel experiments. By analyzing the trends of bacteria attachment over different periods of time, and in different stiffness of gels, we hope to further analyze the growth characteristics of common infection-causing bacteria.