Technology development and application for studying metabolism of extracellular and intracellular pathogens under real-time controlled culture conditions

• Applicant: Professor Dr. An-Ping Zeng
• Subject Area: Biological Process Engineering
• Term: from 2008 to 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 72128376

For the study of adapted metabolism of pathogens, it is essential to take and treat samples under rep-resentative physiological conditions. The goal of this project in the first period has been thus to de-velop an automated rapid sampling unit (RSU) and its integration into a real-time controlled culture system for pathogens. This goal has been achieved. Beyond the macroscopic RSU origi-nally planned we have further worked on a microfluidic sample processing system (μSP) to over-come some of the limitations of the macroscopic RSU. In the second period of our project, as a fur-ther technological development we plan to integrate a microfluidic separation unit for rapid separa-tion of pathogens from disrupted host cells. For this purpose, passive methods studied in the first pe-riod will be optimized and a new active method of immunomagnetic separation of pathogens will be employed. The new systems will be used for processing samples and profiling metabolism of different host/pathogen systems and as a technology platform for partners in the priority program. The scien-tific goals of the project are specified in two concretely planned collaboration projects with partners of the priority program. Specifically, the metabolic peculiarities and adaptation of Streptococ-cus pneumoniae and the “small colony variants” of Staphylococcus aureus under conditions of oxidative stress and iron limitation will be characterized and compared in the context of host-pathogen interaction during infection.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1316: Host-adapted Metabolism of Bacterial Pathogens
• Major Instrumentation: rapid sampling unit for S2 conditions with lypholizer