Development of a hydrogel-based biocompatible platform for studying metabolic interactions between algae and bacteria
Name
1193021714-MIT.pdf
Size
2.74 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
e79df19ef0ec5706055cef20f329d6b4
Author(s)
Kim, Hyungseok,(Mechanical engineering scientist)
Advisor(s)
Cullen R. Buie.
Date Issued
2020
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Metabolic interaction between algae and bacteria is an essential topic to develop algal crops as a source of biofuels and to understand nutrient cycling in ocean ecosystems. To date, studying chemical exchange between these microbial species based on molecular diffusion processes has been challenging due to a lack of an appropriate co-culture system. In this thesis, a hydrogel-based biocompatible platform is proposed to study the interaction between algae and bacteria in a systematic way. By using this platform, different species of microorganisms are physically separated each other by culturing them in individual wells, while allowing an exchange of metabolites by chemical diffusion through the nanoporous hydrogel wall. In the first chapter, I discuss ongoing efforts to understand interaction between algae and bacteria and experiments to culture algal species. In the second chapter, I introduce the hydrogel-based platform and discuss how it can be designed to incubate microorganisms with a spatially controlled biomolecular diffusion. In the final chapter, I discuss a community structure of associated bacteria co-cultured with their algal host Phaeodactylum tricornutum, which is shaped by diffusion process using the hydrogel-based platform.
Description
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, May, 2020
Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 55-58).
Subjects
Mechanical Engineering.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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