Date/Time: 15th of August 2017, 13:00-14:00

Venue: CBCB Baddiley-Clark Building, large meeting room level 2

Abstract

Bacteria-materials interactions are important for biofilm formation. The formation of biofilms has great impacts on a wide range of industries such as biomedical industries, marine industries and water industries. Therefore, it is important to understand how materials surface properties will affect bacteria attachment on surfaces and biofilm formation. In this study, the extended Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (XDLVO) theory has been adopted to model how surface roughness and surface topography of materials as well as appendages of bacteria will affect bacteria attachment to material surfaces. In addition, an individual based model has also been developed to predict biofilm formation, and flow induced biofilm deformation, erosion and streamer formation. In this multiphysics computational model, bacteria growth, division, decay, mechanical contact between bacteria cells and adhesion between the bacteria-extracellular polymer substance, as well as flow shear force were implemented.

 

Short Biography

Dr Jinju Chen (JC) is a lecturer in nanobiomechanics within School of Engineering at Newcastle University. She is a leading expert in nanomechanics, with five editorial invited papers on the topic of nanomechanics. Her current research area covers mechanics of bacteria and biofilms, bacteria-materials interactions, modelling bacteria and biofilm development.  She has published 40 journal papers, including in top journals in her field such as Acta Biomaterialia, Nanotechnology, Biophysical Journal, and International Journal of Nanomedicine.  One of her papers on nanomechanics was awarded as a top paper in Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics in 2007. She also published two sole-authored book chapters. She is the Principal Editor for Journal of Materials Research (a well-respected journal in Materials Research), guest editor for Thin Solid Films 2014-2015 and guest editor for Surface Coating & Technology 2016-2017. She has given over 10 invited talks at major international conferences. She also organized and chaired over 10 sessions at major international conferences. She is the external PhD examiner for the world-leading overseas Universities (e.g. Nanyang Technological University, University of Groningen). She regularly reviews research proposals for French National Research Agency, Czech Republic Science Foundation and Singapore Research Council.