Quantifying Microbial Transcriptomic Response to Antimicrobial Nanostructured Surfaces

Antimicrobial nanostructures (AMNs) can be nanofabricated on surfaces to deter microbial colonization or biofouling. This is of interest for manufactured surfaces that frequently come in contact with biological matter, ex. implants. Our understanding of the mechanisms underlying microbe-AMN interactions has so far been largely sterile, with studies oftentimes modeling interfacial energy and material properties to estimate the forces at play. However, these approaches have not accounted for microbial response to the AMN stimulus, which has yet to be well quantified and may influence the outcome of the microbe-AMN interaction, ex. cell death or survival. To examine the microbial stress response to AMN stimulus, we have applied S. cerevisiae and C. albicans to antimicrobial black silicon nanoneedle surfaces and analyzed their transcriptomic response.