Evaluation of nanoparticle resistance development of microorganisms

Over the last century, antibiotics against bacterial infections have led to increased life expectancy and quality of people worldwide. Yet the WHO has brought attention to the increasing resistance development of bacterial pathogens against antibiotics - many bacteria are already multi-resistant. In the search of alternatives to classical antibiotics, nanotechnology and nanoparticles (NP) are moving into the focus of scientific research. Particular attention is paid to the Nano-silver (Ag-NP), which has experienced an immense upswing in recent years and is used in many medical products such as wound dressings or consumer products. However, are Ag-NPs safe for health and environment? To tackle this challenge, conventional methods have been used to explore nanoparticle resistance. Conversely, these methods have proven to be limited in terms of labor, cost, and statistical power. In our work, we intend to overcome these barriers by developing a droplet-based microfluidic analytical platform as a tool to elucidate the impact and biological influence of nanoparticles on living microorganisms with high statistical evaluation and detection efficiency. This method allows the separation of bacteria into single droplets, the generation of individual bioreactors, and the screening of the bacterial metabolism in the presence of Ag-NP.