Center for Biofilm Engineering

News Update: 

July, 2006

Volume 9, Issue 7

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Research Highlights

MSU Wins Millions to Find Treatments for Slow-Healing Wounds

The National Institutes of Health has awarded Montana State University's Center for Biofilm Engineering a $2.9 million grant to find new ways to heal chronic wounds.

Read the full MSU News story

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Four New Technologies for Licensing to Entrepreneurs

Center researchers have developed a new method for distinguishing between live and dead bacteria. Propidium monoazide (PMA) offers a major advantage over existing live/dead DNA-based differentiation techniques by being applicable to a broad range of bacterial species and mixed bacterial communities.

Three other new MSU technologies are also ready for licensing. Read the full MSU News story including technology descriptions

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Conference Highlights

Summer Technical Advisory Conference

You really have to come and see for yourself to appreciate the benefits of this bi-annual conference. Read more
 

Poster Award

Suriani Abdul Rani won the TAC Poster Award. As an incentive to students and to generate interest in the posters, the CBE offers a poster award of $200 for the best poster presented.

Sue has just completed her M.S. in Chemical & Biological Engineering. Read her thesis abstract: "Spatial Patterns of DNA Replication, Protein Synthesis, and Oxygen Concentration within Bacterial Biofilms Reveal Active and Inactive Regions."  Congratulations, Sue! 

Sue can be contacted at 406 994-4937 or suriani@erc.montana.edu. She would love to have an interview with your company.

Subsurface Biotechnology & Bioremediation Symposium & Workshop

This symposium overlapped with the last day of the TAC conference and had an educational and collaborative goal as well. Read more
 

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Outstanding Researchers Award

Andreas Nocker and Mark Burr were recognized for exemplifying CBE’s ideals in teamwork– especially for their contributions in advising and assisting others, and for their unwavering commitment to professionalism and excellence in research, and for the creativity and enthusiasm with which they approach all they do at the CBE.   Read more
 

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Montana Space Grant Consortium

Eight Montana State University faculty members and two from other Montana institutions received grants totaling almost $300,000 for 2006-2007 research or educational projects. The projects deal with fuel cells, space experiments, bacterial pigments, moisture maps and more. The grants were awarded by the Montana Space Grant Consortium, a NASA program designed to enhance aerospace-related education and research in Montana.

Christine Foreman, Center for Biofilm Engineering and Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, received $29,305 for a research project titled "Bacterial Pigments: Examining their potential role as cryo- and ultraviolet radiation protectants." Foreman will expose bacteria from several Antarctic environments to UV irradiance. The levels will be similar to those in Antarctica and Mars.

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Faculty Development Grant

Otto Stein received a short-term faculty development grant for $2500, allowing him to go to both Vienna, Austria and Třeboň, Czech Republic, to give two presentations and to foster potential collaboration between the CBE and BOKU University and ENKI a non-governmental organization (NGO) in the Czech Republic closely associated with the Institute of Systems Biology and Ecology, Czech Academy of Sciences in Třeboň. Presentation titles are listed below in “CBE People in Action.”

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New Employee

Lynne Leach began working as a post-doc in Anne Camper’s lab on July 1, 2006. Lynne is a recent graduate from the University of Vermont, where she obtained her Ph.D. in microbiology and molecular genetics with Dr. Thomas Lewis. Her research was on the physiological role of a transitional metal chelator in carbon tetrachloride degrading Pseudomonas spp. While at the CBE, Lynne will be responsible for developing and applying molecular methods for detecting haloacetic acid degrading organisms found in drinking water systems. This project is in collaboration with Dr. Ray Hozalski at the University of Minnesota.

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Visitors

Priscilla Sossa from Chile will work with Mark Burr and Andreas Nocker in Dr. Anne Camper's group for three months on a project studying microbial community structures along a water quality gradient. Priscilla is working toward a degree in the Biomedical Science Program, and is also employed at the parasitology unit of the Antofagasta University.

Christoph Fux is here this month to write a paper about biofilm detachment as a result of collaborative research with Paul Stoodley, Marty Hamilton, and Cord Hamilton. Christoph is an M.D. from the University Hospital in Berne, Switzerland, where he specializes in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease. In 2003-2004, Christoph spent some time here at the CBE learning about medical biofilms. It is great to have him and his family back again.

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Outreach – CBE Tours

Geoff Gamble, MSU President, Jan Lombardi, Governor's Policy Advisor on Education, and Nancy Schweitzer, Governor's wife, met with Phil Stewart and toured the Center on July 7, 2006.

Don Beeman, CEO, LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals, Bozeman, Montana, met with Phil Stewart and toured the Center July 14, 2006.

Scott Schwarm, Marketing Manager, Freelin-Wade, Inc., McMinnvile, Oregon, met with Garth James and toured the Center July 19, 2006.

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CBE People in Action

Christine Foreman presented “Hydrocarbon Degraders in the Permanent Ice Cover of Lake Fryxell, Antarctica“ and a poster entitled, “Changes in Bioavailability and Chemical Properties During Photolysis of Pony Lake Dissolved Organic Matter,” Sub Committee on Antarctic Research, Open Science meeting, Hobart, Tasmania (Australia), July 10-14, 2006.

Phil Stewart gave an invited presentation "Treating Oral Biofilms with Antimicrobials," to Colgate-Palmolive, Newark, NJ, July 11, 2006.

Paul Sturman presented a poster entitled "Standard Method to Assess Antimicrobial Efficacy in Dental Unit Waterlines,” International Association of Dental Research Conference, Brisbane, Australia, June 28−July 1, 2006.

Paul Sturman, presented "Microbial Control in Oil Production: New Technologies and Where They Fit with Existing Strategies," Dow Chemical, Buffalo Grove, IL, June 8, 2006.

Otto Stein presented, “Sulfur Cycling in Sub-Surface Constructed Wetlands,” 6th Workshop on Nutrient Cycling and Retention in Natural and Constructed Wetlands, May 30−June 3, 2006. Třeboň, Czech Republic. Co-authors are: Stein, O.R., P.J. Sturman, L. Kröpfelová, and J. Vymazal.

Otto Stein presented, “Temperature, Plants and Oxygen: How Does Season Affect Constructed Wetland Performance?”, Institute of Sanitary Engineering and Water Pollution Control, BOKU University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria, May 22, 2006.

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Biofilm Education Resources

Upcoming CBE Workshops

“Biofilms Summer School,” organized by the CBE's Biofilm Structure-Function Research Group, includes the following three workshops listed below.
Bookmark this site

July 24 – August 4, 2006
Details

Biofilm Structure Quantification and Image Analysis
July 24 – 25, 2006
Details

Fundamentals of Biofilm Research
July 26 – 28, 2006
Details

Microsensors  —  Manufacture and Applications
July 31 – August 4, 2006
Details

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Web Watch

BiofilmsOnline.com

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

Subscribe to the monthly 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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