Info

Group name: Physics of Nanoparticles in Life Science
Short name: PhyNaLiS
Research area: Biophysics
Group leader: Ivica Aviani

Resarch

Theme #1: Antibacterial property of silver nanoparticles

Antibacterial property of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) has been a subject of numerous research papers, mostly because of their efficiency against the multidrug resistant bacterial strains. Reactive oxygen species, membrane pore creation and the release of silver ions are the predominant modes of antibacterial action of AgNPs according to the literature. Our study is motivated by the presumption that the bactericidal effect of laser synthesized AgNPs, which are free of chemical byproducts, could be of substantial importance in understanding the underlying action mechanism(s).  Recognition, understanding and control of the parameters relevant for bacterial growth could lead to the comprehension of the growth and/or inhibition upon treatment with AgNPs. Our research includes production and characterization of laser synthesized AgNPs, experimental probing of the antibacterial modes of action and development of a growth/inactivation models for untreated and AgNPs treated E. coli cells.

Theme #2: Complex diffusion in cell membranes

Lateral diffusion on biological membranes is one of the fundamental physical processes underlying the cell metabolism. Due to specifically composite structure of membrane, a number of interactions arise on a decade of space and time scales between variety of molecular species and complexes. In such a crowded and fuzzy world of biological membrane, transport of any cargo (protein, vesicle, pump, …) or information – substantial for the cell life – becomes specifically complex, revealing one of many ways in which life can challenge physics in the living cell. Plenty of experiments have been done to study the transport of different membrane species within a membrane, yet the general physical principles fundamental to this process are not well understood. To address this problem, we analytically model and simulate membrane diffusion as a two-dimensional random walk obstructed by membrane crowding, trapping by other agents, and large-size structures within the membrane. Comparing the results with the state-of-the-art experiments, we aim to describe and understand an interplay between all the effects on the length and time scales of the living cell.

Staff
  • Dr. Nikša Krstulović, senior research associate, Instute of Physics, Zagreb
Projects

 

  1. 2020. – 2024. Laserska sinteza nanočestica, voditelj Nikša Krstulović, HrZZ IP-2019-04-6418 http://www.hrzz.hr/default.aspx?id=78&pid=8511&rok=2019-04
Publications

 

  1. Krce L, Šprung M, Maravić A, Aviani I.A simple interaction-based E. coli growth model. Phys Biol. 2019;16: 066005. https://doi.org/10.1088/1478-3975/ab3d51
  2. Maravić A, Rončević T, Krce L, Ilić N, Galić B, Čulić Čikeš V, et al.Halogenated boroxine dipotassium trioxohydroxytetrafluorotriborateK 2 [B 3 O 3 F 4 OH]inhibits emerging multidrug-resistant and β-lactamase-producing opportunistic pathogens.Drug Dev Ind Pharm. Taylor & Francis; 2019;0: 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1080/03639045.2019.1656736
  3. Rončević T, Krce L, Gerdol M, Pacor S, Benincasa M, Guida F, et al. Membrane-activeantimicrobial peptide identified in Rana arvalis by targeted DNA sequencing.Biochim Biophys Acta – Biomembr. Elsevier B.V; 2019;1861: 651–659. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2018.12.014
  4. Rončević T, Vukičević D, Krce L, Benincasa M, Aviani I, Maravić A, et al.Selection and redesign for high selectivity of membrane-active antimicrobial peptides from a dedicated sequence/function database. Biochim Biophys Acta – Biomembr. Elsevier B.V; 2019;1861: 827–834. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2019.01.017
  5. Bazina L, Maravić A, Krce L, Soldo B, Odžak R, Popović VB, et al.Discovery of novel quaternary ammonium compounds based on quinuclidine-3-ol as new potential antimicrobial candidates. Eur J Med Chem. 2019;163: 626–635. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmech.2018.12.023
  6. Rončević T, Vukičević D, Ilić N, Krce L, Gajski G, Tonkić M, et al.Antibacterial Activity Affected by the Conformational Flexibility in Glycine–Lysine Basedα-Helical Antimicrobial Peptides. J Med Chem. 2018;61: 2924–2936. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.7b01831
  7. Bartossek, N. G. Jones, C. Schäfer, M. Cvitković, M. Glogger, H. R. Mott, J. Kuper, M. Brennich, M. Carrington, A.-S. Smith, S. Fenz, C. Kisker and M. Engstler. Structural basis for the shielding function of the dynamic trypanosome variant surface glycoprotein coat. Nature Microbiology. 2017; 2: 1523–1532. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-017-0013-6
  8. L. Krce, M. Šprung, A. Maravić, P. Umek, K. Salamon, N. Krstulović and I. Aviani, Bacteria Exposed to Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized by Laser Ablation in Water: Modelling E. coli Growth and Inactivation, Materials 13 (3), 653 (2020) https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13030653
  9. L. Krce, M. Šprung, A. Maravić, P. Umek, K. Salamon, N. Krstulović and I. Aviani,
    Bacteria Exposed to Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized by Laser Ablation in Water: Modelling E. coli Growth and Inactivation, Materials 13 (3), 653 (2020) https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13030653
Contact

Contact information
prof. Ivica Aviani, Group leader
iaviani@pmfst.hr
University of Split, Faculty of Science, Ruđera Boškovića 33, HR-21000 Split, Croatia
tel:    00 385 21 619 225
mob: 00 385 91522 0593

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