Center for Biofilm Engineering

News Update: 

January, 2005

Volume 8, Issue 1

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Research Highlights

Upcoming Technical Advisory Conference

The winter 2005 Technical Advisory Conference (TAC) will be held here in Bozeman, Montana, February 2-4. There will be sessions on:

• Biofilm Control
• Biofilm Methods
• Biological Fuel Cells
• Water Treatment
• Cell-Cell Signaling
• Environmental Biofilms
and other topics of general biofilm interest.

See TAC Agenda (pdf) at: http://www.erc.montana.edu/Ind-Col99-SW/IAP/tac/ArchivedTACagendas/wTAC05_FormattedAgenda.pdf

Pre-registration and Welcome Reception will be held at:
GranTree Inn
6:00-8:00 p.m.
North 7th Avenue, Bozeman
Wednesday, February 2, 2005

Biofilm Methods Workshop

A one-day workshop is offered February 2^nd, prior to the TAC meetings. Both basic and advanced biofilm techniques are covered, taught by instructors who are actively engaged in biofilm research. The cost for this one-day workshop is $400 per person. As a non-TAC member there is an additional $450 cost to attend the two-day TAC sessions. Registration is underway so sign up as soon as possible. Please contact Linda Loetterle (linda_l@erc.montana.edu, 406-994-7761) if you have any questions or would like to make arrangements to attend.

For general information about workshops see: http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/whats_new/workshops.htm

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Biofilm Control Team News

Welcome to Joao Xavier and Ben Unterreiner, who have both just joined the Biofilm Control/Antimicrobials team. Joao is a post doctoral scholar (visitor) and expert biofilm modeler who has most recently been working with Christian Picioreanu at the University of Delft in the Netherlands. His home is in Portugal. Joao will be here for four months applying his computer models to the problem of biofilm removal. Ben is an undergraduate in Chemical and Biological Engineering here who will be working on a project sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive.

Colgate-Palmolive has sponsored a project to develop collaborative research possibilities with Dr. Phil Stewart’s Biofilm Control team.

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CBE Makes the Cover of Microbiology

An image produced by Jason Chambless, PhD candidate in Chemical Engineering, Montana State University, was featured in the January 2005 issue. Microbiology is published by the Society of General Microbiology. This image accompanies the article written by M. E. Roberts and P. S. Stewart, “Modelling protection from antimicrobial agents in biofilms through the formation of persister cells,” Microbiology; 151:75-80.

See cover image at: http://www.erc.montana.edu/Res-Lib99-SW/newsarchives/HTML/2005/Microbiology_Cover.htm

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Recent CBE Publications

"Modelling protection from antimicrobial agents in biofilms through the formation of persister" cells
Roberts ME, Stewart PS
Microbiology Jan 2005; 151:75-80

"Survival strategies of infectious biofilms"
Fux CA, Costerton JW, Stewart PS, Stoodley P
Trends Microbiol Jan 2005; 13(1):34-40

To read these paper abstracts or to order paper copies see:
http://www.erc.montana.edu/Res-Lib99-SW/pubs/Database/PD_DisplayScript.asp

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New Research Staff

Deb Berglund was recently hired as the CBE’s Flow Cytometer Technician. Deb will be working under the direction of Phil Stewart. The flow cytometer is part of the Center's new Imaging Facility, which was funded primarily by the MJ Murdock Charitable Trust two years ago. Deb has a master's degree in Chemistry, has years of experience with flow cytometry, and in fact, was one of the first researchers to use flow cytometry with bacteria. She has been working with Mike Franklin and Al Jesaitis (MSU, Microbiology) for the past few years, using confocal microscopy to examine biofilm-neutrophil interactions. Deb will spend her time teaching Center researchers how to use our flow cytometer, and helping us use this very sensitive instrument to understand more about biofilm.

Diane Walker has returned to the CBE as a research assistant in the Biofilm Systems Training Laboratory (BSTL). Diane earned an MS in Environmental Engineering last year. Her thesis research involved investigating methods for bioremediating soil contaminated with the explosive TNT; Al Cunningham was her thesis advisor. Prior to accepting this research position, Diane was employed by the U.S. Forest Service. In the BSTL she will be supervising undergraduate interns, teaching them basic biofilm laboratory techniques, and mentoring them as they apply those techniques. To do so, she will draw on her own experience as an undergraduate BSTL intern, a position she held while working toward a BS in Civil Engineering (Bio-Resources Engineering Option). Diane will also be responsible for conducting laboratory biofilm investigations for industrial and federal agency sponsors and for developing new standard methods for studying biofilm systems.

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Formal Affiliation

Cindy Morris, Visiting Research Scientist from INRA, Avignon, France, has been given an appointment as Affiliate Professor with the MSU Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology. This formalizes an already productive relationship that has been mutually beneficial for the CBE and the Dept. of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology. She has been working conjointly with Anne Camper, Dave Sands (Dept. of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology) and with the Image and Chemical Analysis Lab. Her research concerns aerial dissemination of bacterial biofilms from plant surfaces.
 

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Education

Student Research Fellowship Award

Mohammed Rahman, Ph.D. student in the Department of Civil Engineering, has received a $1,500 award through the Montana Water Center Student Research Fellowship Program for 2005-2006. His research study is entitled "Towards sustainable materials for drinking water infrastructure," and he is working under the direction of Dr. Anne Camper at the Center for Biofilm Engineering.

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CBE Seminar Series

Invited guest speakers present their work to CBE researchers, MSU collaborators, and students. This seminar series has been organized by graduate students, Ben Klayman (Environmental Eng), Stewart Clark (Microbiology), and Willy Davison (Chemical Eng).

See the seminar schedule at: http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/whats_new/archives/Spring05_Seminar_Series.htm
 

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Theses Alert

"A Microbial Fuel Cell Using Biomineralization of Manganese as a Cathodic Reactant," Thesis Defense by Allison N. Rhoads, M.S. candidate in Environmental Engineering, Montana State University, December 2004.

"Kinetics and Community Profiling of Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria in Treated Mine Tailings," Thesis Defense by Mark McBroom, M.S. candidate in Environmental Engineering, Montana State University, December 2004.

Thesis abstracts can be found on the CBE website and copies can be ordered from there as well. To view the thesis abstracts see: http://www.erc.montana.edu/Res-Lib99-SW/pubs/Theses/Database/TD_DisplayScript.asp
 

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CBE People in Action

Robin Gerlach presented “Biofilm growth induced transformation of porous media dynamics,” at the Poster Presentation, 2004 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 13-17, 2004. Co-authors are Gage, J.P., Seymour, J.D., Codd, S.L., Gerlach, R.

Robin Gerlach presented “Use of bioluminescence to study reactive solute transport and biofilm growth and activity in porous media,” Platform Presentation at the 2004 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 13-17, 2004. Co-authors are Sharp, R.R., Gerlach, R., Cunningham, A.B., Adgie, M., Stoodley, P.

Marty Hamilton presented "Using a minimum Anderson-Darling discrepancy fit of a three-parameter Pareto distribution to estimate the rate at which large cell clumps detach from a bacterial biofilm," Hawaii International Statistics Conference, Honolulu, HI, January 9 -11, 2005. Co-authors are Hamilton, G., Stoodley, P., Wilson, S.

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Biofilm Education Resources

Upcoming CBE Workshops

“Biofilm Structure Quantification and Image Analysis,” sponsored by the CBE Structure-Function Research Group, Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University, July 21–22, 2005

“Microsensors: Manufacture and Applications,” sponsored by the CBE Structure-Function Research Group, Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University, August 8–12, 2005

“Bioelectrochemistry: Microbially Influenced Corrision and Microbial Fuel Cells,” sponsored by the CBE Structure-Function Research Group, Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University, August 24–27, 2005

For more information on the workshops go to http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/research/workshops/default.htm
 

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Web Watch

BiofilmsOnline.com

See the BiofilmsOnline.com January issue at http://www.BiofilmsOnline.com.

Subscribe to the bi-weekly newsletter by registering at: http://www.biofilmsonline.com/cgi-bin/biofilmsonline/newsletter_signup.html

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Newsletter Listserve

The CBE News Update is a listserve newsletter. If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe from the listserve, follow the directions at the following CBE website.

http://www.erc.montana.edu/Res-Lib99-SW/newsarchives/subscribe.htm

An alternative to subscribing to the listserve is to view the CBE News Update on our web page at http://www.erc.montana.edu/Ind-Col99-SW/Current_Newsletter/default.htm. Newsletter archives can be found at http://www.erc.montana.edu/Res-Lib99-SW/newsarchives/index.htm.

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