Center for Biofilm Engineering

News Update: 

October, 2008

Volume 11, Issue 10

__________________________________________

Research Highlights

Recent Awards

Metabolic Engineering

Ross Carlson, Assistant Professor, Chemical & Biological Engineering, received an award from Idaho National Laboratory for a 3-year $90,000 grant titled “Metabolic engineering of Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius for lactic acid production from biomass.”  Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius is an acid tolerant, thermophilic microorganism isolated from a Yellowstone National Park hot spring. The organism is being explored to determine if it is suitable for making lactic acid, a precursor for a biodegradable plastic, from cheap biomass substrates like agricultural waste. The project began June 4, 2008.

_______

MRSA Biofilms

Columbia Biosystems has awarded Garth James, Associate Research Professor and Medical Projects Manager, a 1-year $142,023 grant titled “Determination of proteins and peptides unique to MRSA biofilms.”  The research will focus on the identification of target molecules for detecting MRSA biofilms. The project began September 22, 2008.  

_______

Montana Board of Research and Commercialization Technology Awards

The Montana Board of Research and Commercialization Technology has given the CBE three awards for the research described below.

Darla Goeres, Assistant Research Professor, Chemical & Biological Engineering,  was awarded a 2-year $133,970 grant titled “Research support for standardizing comprehensive biofilm efficacy test system.” The funding will support the design and testing of a research tool that will be manufactured and sold by BioSurface Technologies Inc. The research will be done in collaboration with students from the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering under the direction of Mr. Kevin Cook. The project began September 1, 2008.

Alfred Cunningham, Professor, Civil Engineering and Anne Camper, Professor, Civil Engineering, were awarded a 2-year $250,316 grant titled “Control of microbial processes for enhanced water treatment using floating island treatment systems.”  The project’s goal is to conduct research on the dynamics of microbial communities occurring in engineered floating islands used for water treatment. These floating islands (trademarked Biohaven^TM), which consist of a non-woven matrix made of 100% recycled plastic fabricated into floating mats, have been developed by Floating Island International, Inc. The project began August 1, 2008.

Philip Stewart, CBE Director, was awarded a 1-year $100,470 grant titled “Development of bismuth-thiol based therapeutic agents for treating chronic wounds.”  This proposal is a partnership between Microbion Corporation and MSU-CBE to develop a topical anti-infective, anti-biofilm drug formulation for the treatment of chronic wounds. The type of wounds that will be specifically targeted by this technology includes diabetic foot ulcers and venous leg ulcers that are notoriously difficult or impossible to heal, and can lead to amputation.  The project began July 1, 2008.

_________________________________________

Outreach

Visitors

Claudia Doberenz is visiting the CBE for nine months on a Fulbright fellowship from Germany, where she earned a MS degree in microbiology from Martin Luther University in Halle/Wittenberg.  She is here as a non-degree graduate student, working in the Industrial & Environmental Water Systems lab as part of her Fulbright fellowship experience. She will be looking at interspecies competition in a biofilm. Claudia will return to Germany to complete her PhD.

Dr. Peter Gostomski, head of the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, visited the CBE September 29, 2008. He toured the CBE and met with Brent Peyton.

_________________________________________

Education

Fellowship Award

_______

Montana INBRE Program

Kara Bowen and Kelly O’Shea, as part of the Montana INBRE Program (IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence), attended the Pathways into Health Conference in Girdwood, Alaska, September 8−10, 2008.  The conference covered education of Native Americans in health professions.  INBRE invited Kara and Kelly to attend as representatives since they do heavy-metal contamination work and could contribute to discussions.

_______

Thesis Alert

“Proteomic and transcriptomic analyses reveal genes upregulated by cis-dichloroethene in Polaromonas JS666,” thesis defense by Laura Jennings, visiting PhD candidate in Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and Visiting Researcher at the CBE, Montana State University, September 2008

“Physiological analysis of Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough under conditions relevant to the subsurface environment: Carbon and energy limitation and biofilm formation,” thesis defense by Melinda Clark PhD candidate in Microbiology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and Visiting Researcher at the CBE, Montana State University, August 2008 

View thesis abstracts

_________________________________________

CBE People in Action

Phil Stewart as an invited speaker will present “Antimicrobial tolerance in staphylococcal biofilms,” at the 48th Annual ICAAC/IDSA 46th Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, October 25−28, 2008. 

Garth James will present "Prevention of S. aureus biofilm in vitro using 5-FU-coated central venous catheters" at the 48th Annual ICAAC/IDSA 46th Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, October 25−28, 2008. Authors:  GA James, S Fisher, SF Rosebrough, and JE Perry. 

Christine Foreman presented two talks: “Impact of climate change on polar organisms,” “Stories from a changing planet” as well as teacher workshops at the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, Salt Lake City, UT October 9−12, 2008. 

Mervin Failing, a Bridging Tribal College Student to MSU (summer program) received the Best Poster award for “Response of bacteria to freezing,” at the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, Salt Lake City, UT, October 9−12, 2008.  Mervin is a student at Ft. Peck Community College, MT, majoring in education.  For his efforts, Mervin received a certificate and $500. Poster co-authors: Mervin Failing, Markus Dieser, Betsey Pitts, and Christine Foreman. 

Phil Stewart presented “Visualization of antimicrobial action in Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms” at the International Biofilms III Conference in Munich, Germany, October 4−9, 2008.

Christine Foreman presented the poster “DOC, microbial abundance and activity in the Upper WAIS Divide Core” at the annual science meeting for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide Project, Denver, CO, September 30–October 2, 2008. Poster co-authors: Christine M. Foreman, Joe McConnell and John C. Priscu.

Phil Stewart presented “Alternative strategies for biofilm control” at a workshop focusing on biofilms and biocorrosion, sponsored by the Army Research Office, on September 22, 2008, Dallas, TX. 

Matthew Fields presented “Biodiversity and spatial dynamics of an engineered subsurface environment” at the MicroEnGen-IV: 4th SCOPE Workshop on Microbial Environmental Genomics, Central South University, Changsha, China, September 17−24, 2008.

Christine Foreman lectured at the Museum of Natural History in Cleveland, OH, September 12−13, 2008. She presented “Polar Palooza: Stories from a changing planet” and a hands-on-children’s activity “A celebration of polar research,” as part of the Explorer’s Lecture Series.

Zbigniew Lewandowski participated in several significant activities at the IWA Water Congress, Vienna, Austria, September 8−12, 2008.

He chaired the session “Biofilm Processes,” and presented a paper “Characterizing temporal development of biofilm porosity using artificial neural networks.” This paper has been published as “Characterizing temporal development of biofilm porosity using artificial neural networks,” Angathevar Veluchamy RR, Beyenal H, Lewandowski Z, Water Science and Technology 57:1867–1872, 2008. 

He also chaired the meeting of the IWA Biofilm Specialist Group.

Working together with the chairmen of two other specialist groups, (1) Water Reuse and (2) Membrane Technology, Zbigniew helped organized a workshop, “Biofouling of Membranes for Water and Wastewater.” He presented ““Mechanisms of biofilm processes,” for the workshop.”

He also participated in the meeting of the organizing committee of the Biofilm Reactors Conference. It will be organized jointly by the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the International Water Association (IWA). The conference is scheduled for 2010.

_________________________________________

Web Watch

Subscribe to BiofilmsOnline.com

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

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter.

Sponsor BiofilmsOnline.com

_________________________________________

Newsletter Listserv

Subscribe or unsubscribe to the newsletter by following these instructions. The CBE News Update is a listserv newsletter.

View the monthly CBE News Update on our web site.

Access Newsletter Archives

__________________________________________