Development of interfacial models to understand preservation through neutron reflection

The aim of this project is to understand how such surface-active preservative actives work and how additional surface-active molecules could help boost their biocidal efficacy. This project is part of our ongoing collaboration to apply neutron and X-ray techniques to improve our understanding of antimicrobial efficacy and dynamic killing, however it will be the first to explore preservative actives. Neutron reflection is about the only technique that can help unravel structural information at the molecular and membrane levels about how preservatives interact with microbial membranes, with and without booster molecules. Model lipid membrane systems will be developed to aid the determination of the structure and composition of the interfacial films when the boosters, bioactive and their representative mixtures interact with the lipid models mimicking different microbial membranes. This work should require 3 days of beam time.