Controlling pathogenic surface contamination of food industry equipment, necessary in order to prevent the risk of food contamination, requires an understanding of the dynamics surrounding bacteria/material interactions However, the lack of tools which would permit us to quantify the forces of interaction, and knowledge regarding the complexity of bacteria (morphology, physical chemistry and deformability) either at cell or population level , have so far been barriers to this understanding.
We propose that we identify these two levels of complexity on the B. cereus spore and  confront the data with the results of the quantification of interaction forces obtained directly (AFM) and indirectly (adhering spore count) on whole spores or on BclA, major superficial glycoprotein, in order to determine the parameters which affect spore adhesion. The results will then be applied to a non-sporulating L. monocytogenes germ.
The adhesion and unadhesion kinetics will be modelised taking into account i) the complexity of the bacteria , ii) the heterogeneity of the bacterial population.

This project was labellised by the AQUIMER Pole of Competitiveness on 23 May 2007.