Fortifying Fungal Fortresses: Glucose Influence on Candida albicans Biofilms
Board Location: #2
Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Microbiology/Immunology/Virology
Session: 2
Jan Ashlley Gumpal Masse - University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Co-Author(s): Eli G. Cytrynbaum, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, Wisconsin ; Megan N. McClean Ph.D, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
Candida albicans is a commensal and opportunistic pathogen fungus responsible for 70% of nosocomial fungal infections. Pathogenesis can result in superficial or invasive infections and is generally associated with the formation of biofilm, with diabetic individuals being highly susceptible. While research on C. albicans biofilm formation has been extensive on the first three stages (adherence, initiation, maturation) of biofilm development, less is known about dispersion – or the release of planktonic yeast cells from an established biofilm. There are also contradictory findings regarding the effect of glucose on biofilm formation.
We aimed to determine whether increasing glucose concentration in growth media increases biofilm development and whether it leads to faster dispersion in order to investigate one potential cause of the increased incidence of C. albicans pathogenesis in people with diabetes. We utilized an underoil microfluidic system to simultaneously screen multiple strains at different glucose concentrations and monitor biofilm development and dispersion for 20 hours.
We found that higher glucose concentrations increase biofilm development but do not accelerate biofilm dispersion. We suggest conducting further experiments, including analyzing different strains and changing further media conditions not tested in this study. Additional avenues of study include testing the virulence of dispersed cells and their interaction with immune cells. We hope these results can be used to create an effective in vitro model for C. albicans or for future therapeutics.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): National Science Foundation under project no. (2349028) and National Institutes of Health under project no. (AI154940)
Faculty Advisor: Megan N. McClean, Ph.D, mmcclean@wisc.edu
Role: The researcher is responsible for designing the research project, which includes, but is not limited to, identifying the strains that need to be tested for biofilm dispersal, selecting the media to be used, determining the glucose concentration, and deciding on the length of the incubation period. Additionally, the researcher is responsible for creating the microfluidics system used and developing a program for a more straightforward tabulation of the research data.