Bacterial imprinting at Pickering emulsion interfaces.

The tendency of bacteria to assemble at oil-water interfaces can be utilized to create microbial recognition sites on the surface of polymer beads. In this work, two different groups of bacteria were first treated with acryloyl-functionalized chitosan and then used to stabilize an oil-in-water emulsion composed of cross-linking monomers that were dispersed in aqueous buffer. Polymerization of the oil phase followed by removal of the bacterial template resulted in well-defined polymer beads bearing bacterial imprints. Chemical passivation of chitosan and cell displacement assays indicate that the bacterial recognition on the polymer beads was dependent on the nature of the pre-polymer and the target bacteria. The functional materials for microbial recognition show great potential for constructing cell-cell communication networks, biosensors, and new platforms for testing antibiotic drugs.