Merton Fellow's research helps make 'Biosense'

How do bacteria sense their micro worlds? This is one of the questions addressed by 'Biosense', a current exhibition at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, which celebrates the University’s leading science research by combining scientific stories with incredible images and previously unseen museum specimens. 'Sensing on the nanoscale' is a section of the exhibition that looks at bacterial behaviour, in particular swimming and environmental sensing. It draws on research carried out by Professor Judith Armitage, Professorial Fellow in Biochemistry at Merton.

Professor Armitage explains what her research is exploring:

"Bacteria swim by rotating 45-nanometre transmembrane motors, complexes that look and operate like little electric motors spinning a helical flagellum, and they sense changes in their local environment, biasing their swimming to reach the best growth conditions. This is often a surface where they form communities known as biofilms. These communities behave differently from free-living bacteria and have been exploited by higher organisms which have evolved to do things such as produce light—deep sea fish, glowing squid etc have light organs that contain colonies of glowing bacteria—or fix atmospheric nitrogen in the roots of peas and beans, a process essential for all life.

"Synthetic biology is now trying to exploit this behaviour in many ways, such as constructing artificial biofilms to clean waste water, and making nanobots to move cargo into tiny spaces."

Biosense is designed to appeal to the Museum’s adult audience and is the first in a new series of contemporary science 'mash-ups' which will bring public interest research into the historic Museum. Visitors can also follow a 'Biosense trail' to discover other specimens in the displays that are relevant to the show.