Bacteria that colonize materials and tissues within the body can be difficult to remove, even with thorough cleaning and application of antibiotics. Recent studies show that bacteria not only colonize the surfaces of tissues in the body but can also squeeze into naturally occurring pores and channels and thereby gain protection from immune cells and antibiotics. Here, we ask how physical forces and cell growth might enable bacteria to enter small pores within materials. We use microfluidic devices to study the growth and migration of the human pathogenic bacteria, S. aureus.
DeFrates et al. (Thu,) studied this question.