Description
Understanding how physical and chemical cues shape the organization of bacteria on surfaces is essential, particularly in the context of biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance. Biofilms arise when bacteria colonize solid substrates, a process that occurs across a wide range of biological tissues and synthetic materials. In the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, early surface exploration driven by twitching motility plays a key role in the development of three-dimensional colonies and is closely linked to virulence.
Here, we present a set of approaches that allow precise control over the physico-chemical properties of surfaces inside microchannels, while enabling in situ imaging of bacterial behavior. Using these platforms, we investigate how surface exploration by P. aeruginosa is influenced by substrate rigidity [1], topography, fluidity or polarity [2] —parameters that modulate motility and thus tune colony formation. Overall, this work provides a versatile experimental toolbox for the microfluidics and biophysics communities, offering new ways to probe the mechanisms underlying bacterial surface exploration.
[1] Gomes S. et al., eLife 12:e81112 (2023)
[2] Letrou M. et al.,Eur. Phys. J. E, 48 10-12 (2025)