Systematic analysis of the role of cell wall components in biofilm formation

I am a molecular microbiologist trained in Switzerland. For my PhD project, I aim to characterize the molecular interactions bacterial cell envelope and cell wall proteins leading to biofilm disassembly in Bacillus subtilis through the release of amyloid TasA fibers. I am addressing this question by combining bacterial cell biology, fluorescent and electron microscopy, and physical chemistry of the extracellular matrix and of the cell wall.

picture adapted from Kolodkin-Gal et al., 2010, scale bars 500 nm, Non-canonical D-amino acids are modifying bacterial cell wall, resulting in mis-localization of the extracellular matrix.