Center for Biofilm Engineering

News Update: 

April, 2008

Volume 11, Issue 4

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New Director's Message

Dr. Phil Stewart recalls an early lesson he learned as a shy science student in middle school – by working together we can all be winners. Read his latest message about how the CBE enjoys working together with collaborators and constituents in an environment of partnership.

Read the Director’s Message

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Research Highlights

Montana Space Grant

Montana Space Grant has awarded Andy Mitchell and Eric Boyd (Chemistry and Biochemistry) a $44,622.00 grant. As part of the NASA EPSCoR Program they will investigate “Methanogenesis in subglacial environments – biosignatures for extraterrestrial life”. The grant period is February 1, 2008-January 31, 2009.

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CBE Makes the Cover of Wound Repair and Regeneration

Congratulations to Garth James and the Medical Biofilm Laboratory team, Montana State University, whose image was featured on the cover of the January-February 2008 issue of Wound Repair and Regeneration.

Read more about the cover image

The related journal article:
"Biofilms in chronic wounds"
James, G.A., E. Swogger, R.Wolcott, E. deLancey Pulcini, P. Secor, J. Sestrich, J.W. Costerton and P.S. Stewart
Wound Repair and Regeneration, 16:37-44 (2008)
Read the abstract

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Most Viewed

CBE researchers have also co-authored another chronic wound journal article that has received BioMed Central Microbiology’s “highly accessed” designation this past month. The full text article is available (open access) at the BMC Microbiology website or at the CBE’s abstract webpage below.

“Survey of bacterial diversity in chronic wounds using pyrosequencing, DGGE, and full ribosome shotgun sequencing”
Dowd S.E., Y. Sun, P.R. Secor, D.D. Rhoads, B.M. Wolcott, G.A. James, R.D. Wolcott
BMC Microbiology 2008, 8(1):43 (6 March 2008)
Read the abstract and full text

See BMC Microbiology’s "Most Viewed"

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Hot Paper

Matthew Fields received notification from ACS Publications that an article he co-authored in 2006 has been recognized as a "Hot Paper." Hot Papers are articles published within the last two years receiving the most citations over the most recent two-month period. In a typical two-month period, Essential Science Indicators recognizes more than 200 total Hot Papers in chemistry alone; amongst those Hot Papers in chemistry, articles published in ACS journals are typically responsible for nearly half of the top 100 'hottest' papers!

Read more

“Pilot-scale in situ bioremedation of uranium in a highly contaminated aquifer. 2. Reduction of U(VI) and geochemical control of U(VI) bioavailability’
Wu W-M, Carley J, Gentry T, Ginder-Vogel MA, Fienen M, Mehlhorn T, Yan H, Caroll S, Pace MN, Nyman J, Luo J, Gentile ME, Fields MW, Hickey RF, Gu B, Watson D, Cirpka OA, Zhou J, Fendorf S, Kitanidis PK, Jardine PM, Criddle CS
Environ. Sci. Technol.; (Article); 2006; 40(12); 3986-3995. DOI: 10.1021/es051960u
Read the paper abstract

Read more about Matthew’s current research in physiology and ecology:

See other papers representative of Matthew’s research at:

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Latest CBE Publications

"Survey of bacterial diversity in chronic wounds using pyrosequencing, DGGE, and full ribosome shotgun sequencing”
Dowd, S.E., Y., P.R. Secor, D.D. Rhoads, B.M. Wolcott, G.A. James, R.D. Wolcott
BMC Microbiol., 8(1):43 (2008)
Full text pdf 

"The effect of detachment on biofilm structure and activity: The oscillating pattern of biofilm accumulation”
Lewandowski, Z., A.H. Beyenal, J. Myers and D. Stookey
Water Science Technology, 55(8-9):429-436 (2007)

Read abstract


View the complete CBE publications database

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New Employees

Seth D’Imperio, a post-doctoral researcher in Dr. Brent Peyton’s lab, is working to better understand microbial diversity of metal-contaminated sediments from Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Seth received his Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Plattsburgh State University of New York in 1998. He worked for the USDA at the Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, West Virginia until August of 2003. He recently defended his PhD thesis in Ecology and Environmental Science at Montana State University, where he focused on microbial interactions with hydrogen, sulfide and arsenic in a hot spring ecosystem in Yellowstone National Park.

Ryan Storment, education program assistant, will contribute his expertise to several projects, April 1 through August 15th. Ryan worked at the CBE last summer and we’re pleased to have his assistance again to move some major projects forward. Projects that Ryan will be working on will be Biofilms: The Hypertextbook, the CBE annual report, and CBE website development. Ryan has his masters in English literature and in the fall will teach English courses here at MSU.

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Outreach

Partners in Science Award

The M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust of Vancouver, Washington, is pleased to announce that it has awarded a grant of $15,000 to Montana State University Bozeman. This award will enable Paul Andersen, a science teacher at Bozeman High School (406.522.4833) of Bozeman, MT, to form a partnership with Dr. Elinor deLancey Pulcini to conduct research during the next two summers in the Center for Biofilm Engineering.

Read the full story

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Visitors

John Lennox, Professor Emeritus, Microbiology, Penn State Altoona is here for the month of April to work on biofilm education projects. John is committed to bringing the biofilm concept into the undergraduate science and engineering curriculum and he contributed to the success of the Biofilms: The Hypertextbook proposal (NSF 0089397 and 0618744). During this visit, John is collaborating with Rocky Ross and Al Cunningham on the hypertextbook project and also preparing material to present at the American Society for Microbiology Undergraduate Conference, May 31 – June 1, 2008.


Volker Brozel brought 10 of his students from the Department of Biology and Microbiology and Center for Infectious Disease Research and Vaccinology, South Dakota State University (SDSU), Brookings to tour the Center. Melinda Clark and Storm Shirley toured the group through the Center laboratories on March 17, 2008. Volker Brozel first came to the Center in 2004 as an invited seminar speaker from SDSU, so it was a pleasure to have him visit us again.

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MSU Recruitment Program

Robin Gerlach and company presented posters at the MSU Department of Graduate Studies’ Molecular Bioscience Recruitment Program, MSU campus in Bozeman, Montana, February 29, 2008. Potential graduate students interested in the molecular bioscience and geomicrobiology programs attended. Read the poster titles below in the CBE People in Action section.

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Education

Thesis Alert

“Quantifying the viscoelastic properties of treated and Untreated Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms using a rheological creep analysis,” Master’s defense by Mike Sutton, M.S. Candidate in Environmental Engineering, Montana State University, March 2008.

View thesis abstracts

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CBE People in Action

Al Cunningham presented “Microbially enhanced carbon storage” at a workshop on Numerical Models for Carbon Dioxide Storage in Geological Formations, in Stuttgart, Germany, April 2-4, 2008.

Zbigniew Lewandowski presented, “Microbial fuel cells-from laboratory studies to applications” and “Optimizing power generation by microbial fuel cells,” at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Orlando, Florida, March 2 -7, 2008.

CBE faculty and students presented posters at the MSU Department of Graduate Studies’ Molecular Bioscience Recruitment Program, MSU campus in Bozeman, Montana, February 29, 2008. Poster titles and authors follow below.

Posters presented by Andy Mitchell and Robin Gerlach:
     Poster Title: Bioremediation and the role of mixed pollution: TNT and Cr(VI)
     Authors: Ballor, NR, Gerlach R

     Poster Title: Isolation of cellulose degrading microorganisms and their influence on
     contaminant mobility and reduction
     Authors: Field EK, Vanengelen M, Petyon BM, Lee B, Apel WA, Gerlach R

     Poster Title: Biofilm enhanced subsurface sequestration of supercritical CO2
     Authors: Mitchell AC, Phillips AJ, Hiebert R, Gerlach R, Kaszuba J, Hollis WK,  
     Cunningham AB

Posters presented by Catherine Van Engelen:
     Poster Title: Alkaline hydrolysis and biotransformation of TNT by thermoalkaliphiles from
      Yellowstone National Park
     Authors: Albaugh-Vanengelen C, Peyton BM, Gerlach R Poster presented by Kristen
     Brileya, Natasha Mallette, Reed Taffs and John Aston

     Poster Title: Case study in geobiological systems: in silico analysis of material and energy
     flow in a hot spring microbial mat
     Authors: Brileya K, Aston J, Carlson R, Fields M, Gerlach R, Inskeep W, Jay Z, Klatt C,
     Mallette N, McGlynn S, Montross S, Skidmore M, Taffs R, Ward D

Poster presented by Stewart Clark:

     Poster Title: Comparing the behavior of Salmonella typhimiurium: biofilm vs planktonic

Poster presented by Markus Dieser:
     Poster Title: Microbial diversity and the role of bacterial pigments as cryo-and-UV-
     protectants in Pony Lake, Antarctica
     Authors: Dieser M, Foreman C
 

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Upcoming CBE Workshops

Advanced Biofilm Methods Workshop – Technical Advisory Conference
July 14, 2008
This workshop is for CBE’s Industrial Associate members on a first-come, first-served basis. If there is space available for more participants, other conference attendees will be invited to join the workshop. Read more about CBE workshops


“Biofilms Summer School,” organized by the CBE's Biofilm Structure-Function Research Group, is composed of three workshops.

July 28 – August 8, 2008
Read the details of each workshop at the link below.

 

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