# The electrophysiology of biofilm development and drug resistance

> **NIH NIH K99** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO · 2024 · $138,699

## Abstract

Project Summary
Biofilms are intrinsically drug-resistant. While the signaling pathways mediating resistance in biofilms are documented,
only recently has the importance of electrophysiology in modifying gentamicin resistance come to light. However, the role
of electrophysiology in biofilm formation and maturation is unknown. Furthermore, we currently lack high throughput
screening techniques for assessing the bactericidal potential of treatment strategies against clinical biofilms.
During my K99 training, I will investigate how mechanically-stimulated calcium fluctuations modify the c-di-GMP pools
(Aim 1.1) and bacterial swarming (Aim 1.2) leading to biofilm formation. Concomitantly, I will deploy an assay for measur-
ing biofilm viability in high throughput to screen for antibiotic adjuvants against biofilms (Aim 2.1). During this phase, my
training will focus on the culture of biofilms, analysis of non-optical electrophysiology data, and building machine learning
models subsequently applied during my R00 phase.
Following my K99 phase, I will investigate the electrophysiology of mature biofilms using both optical and non-optical
techniques and correlate changes in antibiotic tolerance across the biofilm life-cycle with changes in electrophysiology (Aim
1.3). Concomitantly, I will build and train deep learning models to predict gentamicin adjuvants against slow-growing cells
based on viability data collected in my K99 phase (Aim 2.2).
The product of my project will enrich our understanding of biofilm electrophysiology and enable methods for mitigating
their formation or promoting their retention as is desirable for probiotics. Additionally, this work will deliver new machine
learning technologies for finding antibiotic adjuvants to combat drug-resistant clinical biofilms.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10883661
- **Project number:** 5K99AI175656-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
- **Principal Investigator:** Christian T Meyer
- **Activity code:** K99 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $138,699
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-07-06 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10883661

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10883661, The electrophysiology of biofilm development and drug resistance (5K99AI175656-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10883661. Licensed CC0.

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