Orpheus Project

Project: Internally funded project

Project Details

Description

Can we 'woo‘ bacteria into exchanging genetic information? A truly multi-disciplinary team of researchers, including microbiologist (Charles Knapp, Civil Engineering) and musician (Peter Argondizza, HASS), investigate how vibrations can be used to promote bacterial transformation (gene transfer). Super-sonic vibrations can disrupt cellular membranes enough to facilitate the transfer of plasmids and genes; however, they tend to compromise the survival of bacteria. Their group is seeking to "tune" the system to find the optimal "sound" that will allow gene transfer without lethal effects.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date1/10/111/04/12

Keywords

  • civil engineering
  • bacteria
  • ultra sound
  • super sonic
  • tone
  • music
  • microbiology

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