Center for Biofilm Engineering

News Update: 

March, 2009

Volume 12, Issue 1

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Industry Highlights

Technical Advisory Conference Summary

This conference was held February 3-4, 2009, in Bozeman, MT. Conference sessions featured quorum sensing, industrial and environmental biofilms, and wound biofilms.

Attendance was strong, in spite of the uncertain economic climate and reduced travel budgets. There were 65 attendees and 11 invited speakers. Of the 65 attendees, 39 were from 26 member companies; 13 were from 10 visiting companies and 19 attendees represented 15 universities or colleges.

The conference included an opportunity for attendees to participate in the Biofilm Methods Workshop and also an afternoon Wound Biofilm Retreat. The purpose of the retreat was to bring together scientists, clinicians, and company representatives to present and discuss how microbial biofilms impact wound healing.

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New Industrial Associates

We are pleased to welcome new member companies to the Industrial Associate program.

Bayer MaterialScience AG is one of the world’s largest producers of polymers and high-performance plastics. The industrial representative will be Robert Pyles.

Read more about Bayer MaterialScience AG.
 

The Sherwin-Williams Company, since its founding by Henry Sherwin and Edward Williams in 1866, has not only grown to be the largest producer of paints and coatings in the United States, but is among the largest producers in the world. The industrial representative will be Tony Rook. Read more about Sherwin-Williams.

View our Industrial Associate member companies

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Three new technologies now available for licensing from MSU

Technologies that could help monitor water safety, prevent leaks from underground gas storage sites and reduce the waste left over from producing biodiesel are now available for licensing to interested companies and entrepreneurs through Montana State University's Technology Transfer Office.

The first technology, a nucleic acid assay that distinguishes between living and dead cells, helps eliminate the false-positives caused by detecting non-viable cells. The method detects only the active-cell portion of a microbial sample, something current molecular methods cannot do.  Read about the other two technologies.

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Research Highlights

MSU shares in $1.4 million grant for carbon sequestration research

Researchers at Montana State University, Montana Tech and the University of Montana have been awarded a $1.4 million grant from the Department of Energy to study the effects carbon sequestration sites may have on the surrounding environment.

The project will study the environmental effects of geologic carbon sequestration, which involves injecting large volumes of liquefied carbon dioxide deep underground. Storing CO2 underground keeps it out of the atmosphere and keeps it from contributing to global climate change.

"I see this as bringing other contributors from outside of MSU into a research program that is very important to the entire state," said Al Cunningham, the grant's principle investigator and a professor at MSU's Center for Biofilm Engineering.

Read the full story

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Latest CBE Publications

“Secondary flow mixing due to biofilm growth in capillaries of varying dimensions”
Hornemann JA, Codd SL, Fell RJ, Stewart PS, Seymour JD
Biotechnol Bioeng Jan 2009; [Epub ahead of print]
Read abstract

“Novel approaches towards preferential detection of viable cells using nucleic acid amplification techniques”
Nocker A, Camper AK
FEMS Microbiology Letters 2009; 291:137-142

Read abstract

“Selective detection of live bacteria combining propidium monoazide sample treatment with microarray technology”
Nocker A, Mazza A, Masson L, Camper AK, Brousseau R
J Microbiol Meth 2009; 76(3):253-261

Read abstract

“Retention of a model pathogen in a porous media biofilm”
Bauman WJ, Nocker A, Jones WL, Camper AK
Biofouling 2009; 25(3):229-240
Read abstract

“Diffusion of macromolecules in model oral biofilms”
Takenaka S, Pitts B, Trivedi HM, Stewart PS
Appl Environ Microbiol Jan 2009; [Epub ahead of print]

Read abstract

“A Candida albicans early stage biofilm detachment event in rich medium”
Sellam A, Al-Niemi T, McInnerney K, Brumfield S, Nantel A, Suci PA
BMC Microbiol. 2009; 2;9(1):25

Read abstract

“Microbial ecology of human skin and wounds,” In:The Role of Biofilms in Device-Related Infections
Chapter authors: James G, Swogger E, DeLancey-Pulcini E
Mark Shirtliff and Jeff G. Leid (Eds), Springer, 2008; pp. 1-14.
Read abstract

“Mechanisms of microbially influenced corrosion,” In: Marine and Industrial Biofouling
Chapter authors: Lewandowski Z and Beyenal H
Flemming H-C, Murthy PS, Venkatesan R, and Cooksey KE (Eds), Springer, 2009; pp. 35-65.
Read abstract

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New Employees

Andrew Sabalowsky joined the CBE as a Postdoctoral Research Associate, January 26, 2009. Andy has a BS in aerospace engineering (Virginia PolyTech), and a MS and PhD in environmental engineering (Oregon State). He will be working with Matthew Field’s group, initiating studies with SRB biofilms and looking into potential activities within the extracellular matrix.

Ryan Storment returned to the CBE January 5, 2009, to continue work on the educational project “Biofilms: The Hypertextbook,” with Al Cunningham and Rocky Ross.

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Education

Engineering student works to inspire a new generation to save the world

MSU News Service, February 25, 2009

Alongside his studies and volunteering, Trevor Zuroff works in two laboratories, one in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and another at the Center for Biofilm Engineering.

The lab was a change from the years Zuroff spent working in auto body shops before coming to MSU. He loved working on the cars, but Zuroff said that at the end of his freshman year, he wanted to get some experience that would help him toward his goal of becoming an engineering professor. Shop work was out; lab work was in.

Now Zuroff studies quorum sensing, the tendency of bacteria living together in colonies -- called biofilms -- to communicate with each other and act as a unit.

Read the full story about Trevor

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W.G. Characklis Award

Pat Secor and Jennifer Faulwetter received the 2009 Characklis Award on February 3rd. Jennifer, a PhD candidate in microbiology and Pat, a PhD candidate in cell biology, were presented with the award at the CBE’s winter Technical Advisory Conference by Nancy Characklis. The W.G. Characklis award was created in honor of the Center's founder and is presented to a PhD student based on his/her contributions in research, education, outreach, and industrial interaction. Congratulations, Pat and Jennifer!

View picture of Pat, Laura and Nancy Characklis

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Ferguson Fellowship Award

Jennifer Faulwetter, PhD candidate in microbiology, received the Ferguson Graduate Student Fellowship Award of $5,000 for her outstanding contributions both in research and in teaching. A generous contribution from an alumna of the Department of Microbiology generated this award. The recipient is chosen by the Graduate Curriculum Committee, and is based on the student’s contributions toward teaching and research.

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Outreach

Visitors

Yvonne Reinhardt is visiting the CBE for four months. Yvonne is an Environmental Engineering student at the University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany where Dr. Rainer Helmig is her academic advisor. Yvonne is working on adapting a multiphase fluid simulation model to data from our MSU ZERT carbon sequestration experimental site with Al Cunningham and Lee Spangler.
 

A group of students from Headwaters Academy, Bozeman, MT visited the Center February 9, 2009. Accompanied by their teacher, Karen Krieger, and the CBE’s Technical Operations Manager, Ann Willis, they had an opportunity to tour the facility and engage in a discussion session regarding biofilm. They were treated to a special viewing of some bioluminescent bacteria, Vibrio fisheri, prepared to spell out the letters “Welcome Headwaters Academy” by undergraduate student Trevor Zuroff. Eager to learn more about this bacteria’s symbiotic relationship with the Hawaiian bobtail squid, they were full of questions about quorum sensing, community relationships, and the many other student projects and biofilm applications.

Kenneth Wunch, Baker-Petrolite, Sugar Land, TX, visited the Center, toured the labs, and learned about the Center’s activities and programs December 18, 2008.

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CBE People in Action

Darla Goeres and Matthew Radons presented two posters “Bringing research tools to a commercial market,” and “Research support for designing a comprehensive biofilm efficacy test system,”  at the Montana Board of Research and Commercialization Technology poster session, Helena, MT, February 10, 2009.

Matthew Fields presented “Temporal and spatial organization within a syntrophic bacterial-archael biofilm” and “Characterization of metal-reducing communities and isolates from uranium-contaminated groundwater and sediments,” at the DOE-GTL PI Awardee Workshop, Bethesda, MD, February 8-12, 2009.

Anne Camper presented “Your drinking water: Capturing bacterial pathogens using microbial slimes," at the Bringing the U to You evening lectures, Heritage Hall, MSU-Great Falls, MT, January 29, 2009.

Elinor Pulcini and Paul Anderson attended the Partners in Science Conference in San Diego, CA, January 15-21, 2009. Paul presented a poster, “Effects of antibiotic resistance on biofilm formation capabilities in clinical isolates.” Partners in Science is a program funded by the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust of Vancouver, Washington, to encourage partnerships between universities and high school teachers.

Christine Foreman presented to eighth grade students, taught a workshop, and was distinguished lecturer at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences “Polar Palooza-Stories from a changing planet,” January 13, 2009. Christine also presented “Life in ice” at the Earth Sciences Colloquium at Rice University, Houston, TX, January 12, 2009.
 

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