Bacterial Mechanobiology

Bacterial infections unfold in mucus, tissues, biofilms, and confined host niches that constitute mechanically complex environments. Yet infection biology has largely focused on genetic and biochemical regulation, treating physical context as background. As a result, how mechanical constraints and host material properties shape bacterial collective behavior, virulence, and antibiotic tolerance remains poorly understood.

Using an interdisciplinary approach, we study how forces regulate bacterial physiology across scales, from single cells to multicellular communities. We show that mechanical interactions can tune motility, biofilm architecture, gene expression, and antibiotic sensitivity, thereby reshaping infection outcomes. By combining engineered infection models, including organoid systems, with physical measurements and computational analysis, our work reframes infection as a process coupling biological and physical phenomena. This perspective reveals new vulnerabilities in pathogenic strategies and suggests alternative routes to control infections by targeting mechanics rather than classical molecular pathways