Center for Biofilm Engineering

News Update: 

October, 2007

Volume 10, Issue 9-10

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Research Highlights

Biofilm Mechanics Workshop Summary

The Center hosted an informal, dynamic workshop on biofilm mechanics, June 28–30, 2007. Twenty-six participants from the U.S. and abroad came together to share ideas and recent results concerning biofilms. Learn more about the many themes, hypotheses, and ideas that emerged from the workshop at: http://www.biofilm.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/research/InterdiscResearchRetreats/default.htm

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New ASTM Standard Approved

Biofilm, self-organized communities of bacteria that can have both positive and negative effects in a variety of industries, is the subject of a new ASTM International standard, E 2562, Test Method for Quantification of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm Grown with High Shear and Continuous Flow Using CDC Biofilm Reactor. The new standard is under the jurisdiction of Subcommittee E35.15 on Antimicrobial Agents, which is part of ASTM International Committee E35 on Pesticides and Alternative Control Agents. Read more about the new ASTM standard at: http://www.biofilm.montana.edu/Res-Lib99-SW/newsarchives/html/2007/ASTM_Biofilm_Standard.htm

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New Industrial Associate Members

We are happy to announce that Kimberly-Clark has joined the CBE as a new industrial member! For 135 years Kimberly-Clark has provided consumers worldwide with solutions that improve their health, hygiene, and well-being. It is a global company, employing over 55,000 people. The primary representative for the company will be Jack Lindon.

For further information see Kimberly-Clark’s homepage at: http://www.kimberly-clark.com/

See our Industrial Associate member companies

Read more about membership information

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NSF Award for Collaborative Research

Dr. Phil Stewart has been awarded a new NSF grant titled “Collaborative Research: Cohesive Strength and Detachment of Bacterial Biofilms”. The total award amount is $157,000 for three years beginning September 1, 2007 through August 31, 2010. Dr. Stewart will be working with Dr. Ray Hozalski, who is an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He received his PhD from The Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Hozalski spent a six month sabbatical at the CBE in Anne Camper’s lab in 2005. One of the fruits of his stay here have been several collaborative proposals. This NSF proposal is the third proposal between CBE and Dr. Hozalski that has been funded. In January 2008, Dr. Stewart will be hiring a grad student to work on this grant.

The goal of this project is to develop effective strategies for controlling and removing microbial biofilms based on improved understanding of the mechanisms of cohesion of the biofilm extracellular matrix. This project shifts the approach to controlling unwanted biofilms from killing microorganisms with antimicrobial agents to weakening the biofilm structure and promoting its physical removal. A key to this strategy is to understand and measure the cohesive strength of the biofilm.

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In the Media

http://www.astm.org

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The MSU-Bozeman Bioglyphs project is noted in this article by Simon Park. For centuries, microbes have been a canvas, as well as an inspiration for artists. Park guides readers through the modern renaissance of ProkaryArt and EukaryArt as the boundaries between microbiology and art become increasingly blurred.

The aesthetic microbe: ProkaryArt and EukaryArt
by Simon Park
Microbiology Today August 2007, 126-129

Read the full story at: http://www.sgm.ac.uk/pubs/micro_today/pdf/080706.pdf

Read about the MSU-Bozeman Bioglyphs project at: http://www.biofilm.montana.edu/Bioglyphs/default.htm

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New Employees

Carol Leist joined the CBE in July as an Administrative Assistant. She worked most recently in the MSU Office of Admissions & New Student Services.

Chelsea Lipp, a recent BS graduate in Cell Biology & Neuroscience, was hired in July and will contribute her expertise as Research Associate in the Medical Biofilms Lab, working on industrially related projects.

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 Visitors

Sonia Porta Banderas, research scholar from Valencia, Spain, will be working in the Biofilm Control Lab from October through December 2007. Sonia works for Ainia Centro Tecnologico in Valencia where she is a microbiological technician. She is here to learn biofilm methods related to food microbiology and is funded by a grant from the Spanish government.

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Education

Markus Dieser and Christine Foreman hosted a Native American Tribal College student, Daniel Horn, through the MSU Bridges program in the laboratory this summer. Dan is an undergraduate majoring in computer technology at Fort Belknap Tribal College. This summer he attended a leadership conference in Connecticut where he presented his work as a poster, “Growth Characteristics of a Bacterial Isolate from Cotton Glacier, Antarctica.” Poster authors were Dan Horn, Markus Dieser and Christine Foreman.
 

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CBE People in Action

Kelli Buckingham-Meyer will present “Biofilm Methods for Standardization,” at the American Society for Testing and Materials Committee Meeting in Tampa, FL, October 30–November 2, 2007.

Phil Stewart will be presenting “Alternative Strategies to Controlling Biofilms,” in a Colgate-Palmolive symposium held in Boston, MA, October 8–11, 2007.

Phil Stewart will be presenting “Biofilms, Daptomycin, and Persistent Infections” at Cubist Pharmaceuticals” in Boston, MA, October 9, 2007.

Paul Sturman presented “Biofilms in Biocorrosion,” at the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) in Calgary, Alberta, October 1–4, 2007.

Betsey Pitts visited Procter & Gamble Company at their Rusham Park Technical Centre in Egham, UK on September 12, 2007 and presented “Microscopy of Biofilms at the CBE.”

Abbie Richards presented at the Halophiles 2007 Congress, University of Essex, in Colchester, England September 2–6. The title of her presentation was "Novel Iron Reducing Siderophores Produced by a Soda Lake Halomonas sp." During that time she also visited Procter & Gamble Company.

Anne Camper presented a WEBINAR, “Water Quality: Biofilm Formation in Clean Water Lines, “September 13, 2007. The Webinar was sponsored by the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association (CTFA) and there were approximately 50 participants.

Drs. Sarah Codd and Joseph Seymour’s Magnetic Resonance Microscopy lab presented research at the 9th International Conference on Magnetic Resonance Microscopy, in Aachen, Germany, September 3-7, 2007. PhD students Amber Broadbent, Tyler Brosten, Einar Orn Fridjonsson and Jennifer Hornemann presented posters on their research, and Jennifer R. Brown presented in the Young Investigators award session. Read their poster titles below.

Sara Codd presented an invited talk on "Biopolymer and Water Dynamics in Microbial Biofilm Extracellular Polymeric Substance."

Amber Broadbent’s poster “Quantifying Velocity and Mass Transfer in Taylor-Couette Flow” won the conference poster award. She competed against 125 other posters and was awarded nuclear magnetic resonance textbooks. Congratulations, Amber!

Jennifer R. Brown presented "NMR Measurement of Irreversibility and Particle Migration in Dilute Sheared Brownian Suspensions."

Einar Orn Fridjonsson presented "The Study of Flow and Particle Distribution in a Bifurcation Using Dynamic NMR Microscopy."

Jennifer Hornemann presented “Analysis of Biofilm Extracellular Polymeric Substance (EPS) Diffusion.” Co-authors on the poster were Jennifer Brown, Sarah Codd, Anna Lysova, and Joseph Seymour.

Tyler Brosten presented "NMR Velocity Phase Encoded Measurements within Unidirectional Tapered-Pore Ceramic Structures."

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Web Watch

BiofilmsOnline.com

Visit www.BiofilmsOnline.com for more biofilm news and information.

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