Center for Biofilm Engineering

News Update:

January 2001

Volume 4, Issue 1

Winter 2001 TAC Meeting

The Winter 2001 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting will be held February 1-2, 2001 on the Montana State University Campus in Bozeman.

The full agenda for the TAC meeting can be seen at:

http://www.erc.montana.edu/Ind-Col99-SW/IAP/tac/AgendaTACFeb01.html

Links to a Bozeman area map and an MSU campus map are provided from the agenda page.

TAC Workshops

The CBE will again be hosting two workshops in conjunction with the February 2001TAC meeting. Registration for these workshops is limited to CBE Industrial Associate Members. The Basic Biofilm Methods workshop will focus on the techniques used to grow, sample, and analyze biofilms in the laboratory, including reactor choice and analysis methods. The Advanced Biofilm Methods workshop will focus on specialized aspects of analyzing biofilms, such as FISH probes, microsensors, cryosectioning, and gel electrophoresis. Both workshops will take place on Wednesday, January 31 at the CBE from 8 AM to 5 PM. For more information, please contact Paul Sturman (paul_stu@erc.montana.edu) at 406-994-2102.

Basic Biofilm Workshop Agenda:

http://www.erc.montana.edu/Ind-Col99-SW/IAP/tac/BasWkshpAgenda01.doc

Advanced Biofilm Workshop Agenda:

http://www.erc.montana.edu/Ind-Col99-SW/IAP/tac/AdvWkshpAgenda01.doc

Research Highlights

New Research Area: Standardized Biofilm Methods

See web pages describing this new Research Area, at:

http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/research/StandBFMethods/defau...

A Visit to the EPA Antimicrobial Division

Dr. Marty Hamilton, Professor of Statistics at Montana State University (MSU) and Principal Investigator of a Contract between MSU & AD on Statistical Support for Antimicrobial Test Methodology, presented two lectures to the Division of Antimicrobials, City, State, January 9, 2001. Dr. Hamilton presented "Performance Standards for Antimicrobials" and "Testing Antimicrobials against Biofilm Bacteria" to the AD management and scientific staff. The first presentation emphasized the importance of statistical analysis to ensure (confirm) the efficacy of antimicrobials available to the public. In the second presentation, Dr. Hamilton stated that biofilms are difficult to control and presented a strategy for developing protocols to test antimicrobials against biofilms.

ATCC Registered Microorganisms

The CBE has deposited the well-known bacterial strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa "ERC-1" with the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC). This is the same strain that has been used extensively in the Biofilm Control (Stewart), Biofilm Systems Training Laboratory (BSTL), and Drinking Water (Camper) Laboratories. The microorganism is available to the public through ATCC as:

Pseudomonas aeruginosa "ERC-1" (ATCC 700888)

Dr. Zbigniew Lewandowski's research group also registered three microorganisms in the ATCC. These microorganisms have been members of the "model biofilm" used in their research.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 700829)

Pseudomonas fluorescens (ATCC 700830)

Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC 700831)

More information about these microorganisms can be found at

<http://www.atcc.org>

Education

Ph.D. Fellowships

Applications are still being taken for Ph.D. Fellowships awarded by the W.M. Keck Foundation. For more details see:

http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/education/Keck%20Announcement.htm

Research Undergraduate Experience 2001

Applications are being accepted for the REU 2001 program. For more information and details see http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/education/REU/info.htm

CBE People in Action

Bill Costerton presented "Biofilms in Nature and Disease" as an invited speaker for the Christina Noble Memorial Seminar Series at the Department of Microbiology/Immunology, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK, November 29, 2000.

Anne Camper traveled with the NSF-ERC site review team to the Marine Bioproducts Engineering Center (MarBEC) for their second year review, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, November 29 - December 1, 2000.

Bill Costerton was an invited keynote speaker at the 5th University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials Industrial Symposium. He presented "Biofilms and Medical Devices," December 6-7, 2000.

Bill Costerton presented "Medical Biofilms" as an invited speaker at the Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Otolaryngology Department, December 7, 2000.

Phil Stewart participated on the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation professional review panel, Bethesda, MD, December 13-14, 2000

Marty Hamilton presented two lectures to the Antimicrobials Division, EPA, Crystal City, VA, January 9, 2001.

Theses

Recent thesis:

Antibiotic Penetration Through Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Colony Biofilms, Thesis Defense by Marty Walters, M.S. Chemical Engineering, Montana State University, January 2001.

See theses abstracts at

http://www.erc.montana.edu/Res-Lib99-SW/pubs/Theses/default.htm

Web Watch

Technology: Bacteria Get The Brush Off

Polymer coatings stop bacteria loitering with intent

http://helix.nature.com/nsu/001221/001221-6.html

The Prokaryotes

The new electronic version of The Prokaryotes is now available and includes a chapter in the "Prokaryotic ecophysiology and biochemistry" section, "Microbial Biofilms" written by Dirk deBeer and Paul Stoodley. It does not yet include the 9 movies Paul sent them but the folks at Springer-Verlag are working on it. See the online version at http://www.prokaryotes.com

BiofilmsOnline.com

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

Check our Recent Web Updates page created to make it easy for you to locate new information on the CBE web. See http://www.erc.montana.edu/Recent%20Web%20Updates/default.htm

Upcoming CBE Events & Other Upcoming Workshops and Meetings

http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/whats_new/index.htm

Newsletter Listserve

The CBE News Update is a listserve newsletter. If you need 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

Diane Williams editor of the CBE News Update