Bacterial Multiphysical Interactions with Hard and Soft Materials Interfaces—Towards Computational Design of Engineered Living Materials

Many mechanisms underpin bacterial interactions with surfaces to allow adhesion and proliferation. By adhering to concrete, microbially induced carbonate precipitation can help create new building materials that are less energy-intensive to manufacture and repair. We computationally coupled multiphysical interactions in agent-based models to determine how bacteria form biofilm and biomineralize on patterned surfaces and in porous structures. Structural designs were proposed using data-driven modeling to optimize targeted biofilm properties. Differences in the molecular structures of healthy and diseased mucus in the human gut can also alter the adhesion of bacteria on mucus. We developed a coarse-grained mucus model that captured the molecular structures of two glycoproteins abundant in human gut mucus. We studied the dependence of nanoparticle diffusion on the particle size. Machine-learned fingerprints were employed to provide a mechanistic understanding of nanoparticle diffusion.