Conditions and mechanisms of microbial cell adhesion and biofilm formation on solid surfaces Faculty of Science, Charles University

Award	Attendance	Study	Duration	Start	Domestic fees	International fees
PhD	On-Campus	Full-time	find out	find out	find out	find out

Course overview

The PhD thesis concerns our team's long-term research focused on investigating the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the development and differentiation of spatially organized yeast structures (biofilms and colonies). Our recent research has uncovered novel regulations of biofilm formation and dispersal at the solid-liquid interface (npj Biofilms Microbiomes 6, 7, 2020; PLoS Genet 14: e1007495, 2018) as well as novel regulatory functions of the Whi2p-Psr1p/Psr2p complex in the coordinated evolution of yeast populations (PNAS 117: 15123, 2020; G3 12: jkab432, 2022). The PhD thesis will be part of our new research direction focusing on the identification of conditions and factors (including regulators) important for microbial cell adhesion and biofilm formation on differently modified solid surfaces (metals, plastics). Although the focus is on mechanisms in pathogenic and non-pathogenic yeasts, part of the planned research will also include selected bacteria. The range of methods includes the construction of fluorescently labeled strains, microscopy, spectroscopy and proteomic approaches.

Five relevant publications of the research group:

Palkov