Center for Biofilm Engineering News Update:  July, 2002 Volume 5, Issue 7   __________________________________________   Research Highlights   Paper Spotlight   Determining Biofilm Biomass, by Philip Butterfield   Measuring biomass in a biofilm is frequently required to study and predict biofilm behavior. Some examples of measurements often taken are 1) biofilm biomass in a biological filter, 2) biomass in a biofilm reactor used to make comparisons between different disinfectants or antimicrobial agents for control of biofilm, and 3) biofilm activity and biomass to determine kinetic parameters such as specific growth and nutrient uptake rates. Generally these measurements require that either attached biofilm cells be removed from the substratum or measurement be made in-situ, without removal of the biofilm. However, when the substratum is fragile or easily disaggregated (e.g., iron oxides resulting from corrosion of ferrous metals), fine particles from the substratum interfere with microscopic techniques used to estimate biomass, particularly those techniques relying upon biofilm removal and some form of cellular stain such as acridine orange, 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindoe (DAPI), or live-dead stains.  One method available to measure biofilm biomass is the potential exoproteolytic activity (PEPA) method. In this paper, the standard assay of potential exoproteolytic enzyme activity was modified to quantitatively measure the biomass of attached biofilm. The resulting technique was sufficiently sensitive to measure biomass on samples containing little biofilm, such as those exposed to free chlorine. While granular and porous media were used for the experiments presented, small biofilm coupons could easily be used to measure biofilm biomass.  Butterfield, P.W., Bargmeyer, A.M., Camper, A.K., and Biederman, J.A. (2002) Modified enzyme activity assay to determine biofilm biomass. Journal of Microbiological Methods, 50(1), 23-31.     _________________________________________   Welcome New Industrial Associate Member   Smith & Nephew, Inc. is a high technology medical device business in orthopaedics, endoscopy, and wound management. Les Sprinkle, Vice President, Regulatory/Clinical Affairs & Quality will be the designated company representative. The Smith & Nephew, Inc. website is http://www.smith-nephew.com/index-flash.html.     _________________________________________   Education   New Education Coordinator Dr. Anne Camper has accepted the post of Education Coordinator. Anne will be responsible for the CBE’s graduate and undergraduate education programs. The value of the Education Program was demonstrated this past academic year by the participation of 20 graduate and 50 undergraduate students who participated in CBE research.     _________________________________________   Awards and Honors   Hanse Institute Fellowship   The Hanse Institute for Advanced Study, Delmenhorst, Germany, has awarded Dr. Paul Stoodley a three-month fellowship to attend the Institute for one month this summer and for two summer months in 2003. His project title is "Movement of biofilm cells through intertidal porous sands".  Dr. Dirk de Beer from the Max Planck Institute of Marine Microbiology, Germany, will collaborate with Paul on the project. This in vitro study will provide insight into microbiological processes occurring in the natural environment. If it is determined that pressure driven convection can cause “attached” microbial populations to flow through sediments this may represent an enormous mass movement of microorganisms which has been previously unrecognized. Further, these studies will allow us to assess the impact of such motion, if it occurs, on respiration rates within sediments. _______   American Statistical Association Fellow   CBE’s statistician, Dr. Martin A. Hamilton, has been elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA). Dr. Hamilton is the Standardized Biofilm Methods Team Leader, and represents the CBE in the Association of Official Analytical Chemists International (AOAC). Marty promotes statistical principles in regulatory evaluations of antimicrobial agents, provides creative solutions to statistical problems in microbiology and toxicology, and effectively disseminates new ideas from academia to industry and government. Hamilton joined the American Statistical Association in 1961. He earned his Bachelor’s and Masters degrees at the University of Wyoming in 1961 and 1962, respectively, and a Doctorate at Stanford University in 1968. The ASA elected 48 of its members as Fellows, a recognition of outstanding professional contribution to and leadership in the field of statistical science. The designation of Fellow has been a superlative honor in the society for 87 years. The Fellows will be awarded at a ceremony at the Association's 162nd annual Joint Statistical Meetings, taking place August 11-15, 2002, in New York City. According to ASA By-Laws, in order to be honored with the title of Fellow, members must have an established reputation and have made an outstanding contribution in some aspect of statistical work. The Committee on Fellows evaluates candidates' contributions to the advancements of statistics, giving due weight to publications, the positions held by the candidates in the organizations in which they are employed, activities within the Association, membership and attainments in other societies, and other professional activities. The case for each candidate is judged individually, with no one of these criterion governing selection to the exclusion of the others.  For a complete listing of this years’ ASA Fellows, see http://www.amstat.org/fellows/fellowslist.cfm.       _________________________________________   New Staff Member   Microbiologist Kelli Buckingham-Meyer has been hired as a Research Specialist to work with Darla Goeres in the Biofilm Systems Training Laboratory. She will be conducting research on standardized biofilm methods. Previously, Kelli contributed to research projects with Dr. Gordon McFeters (MSU) and LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals. Her project work has included developing a rapid method for detecting E. coli 0157:H7 in food and water; Candida albicans vaccine development; a proprietary in vitro screening system developed for screening drugs, which mimics inflammation and adhesion events associated with various disease processes; and monoclonal antibody production/tissue culture work.       _________________________________________   Farewell   Jeff Leid, Assistant Research Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience and CBE Immunology Projects Director, will be relocating to Northern Arizona University. Jeff has accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis in the Department of Biological Sciences. All of his research projects here at the Center will be transferring with him, but an extremely close collaboration with the Center will still be in effect. Jeff's new position will begin August 19th. Contact information: Jeff Leid Department of Biological Sciences Box 5640 Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ 86011 Email: Jeff.Leid@nau.edu   _________________________________________   Upcoming CBE Workshops and Meetings     Industrial Associate Conference and TAC Meeting July 23-25, 2002 Montana State University   _______   Biofilm Image Analysis Workshop July 25-26, 2002 Center for Biofilm Engineering Montana State University Bozeman, MT, U.S.A Daily workshop activities will include lectures and laboratory sessions. The lectures will cover biofilm structure and image analysis of biofilms. The lab sessions will cover how to acquire biofilm images and how to use the biofilm image analysis software developed by the Biofilm Structure and Function Research Group. For workshop details and registration forms, see  http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/research/Structure_function/default.htm   _______   Microsensors: Manufacture and Applications Workshop August 19-23, 2002 Center for Biofilm Engineering Montana State University Bozeman, MT, U.S.A Microsensors (pH, dissolved oxygen, ion selective microelectrodes) are becoming indispensable tools for studying biofilms and small biological samples. The goal of this workshop is to provide the participants with the knowledge necessary to design, manufacture, and apply such microsensors. Lab sessions and lectures will illustrate the electrochemical principles of the measurements, explain how microsensors are manufactured, and demonstrate how they are applied to study biofilms.  The workshop is sponsored by the Biofilm Structure and Function Research Group at the Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University. The activities include four days of lectures and lab sessions, and a one-day field trip to Yellowstone National Park.  For details on this workshop see the following web address. http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/research/Structure_function/default.htm See the Events Calendar for more conference and workshop information at http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/whats_new/index.htm     __________________________________________   CBE People in Action   Anne Camper was an invited speaker at the Northeast Association for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease annual meeting in Springfield, Massachusetts, June 11, 2002, where she gave a presentation entitled "Battling Biofilms." Bill Costerton was invited to present "Susceptibility of Periodontal Pathogen Bacteria in Biofilm," at the Topical Application of Moxifloxacin in Dentistry (Periodontology) Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, June 12, 2002.  Bill Costerton was invited to present "Biofilms in Device-Related and Other Chronic Bacterial Infections," Center for Genomic Sciences, Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA, June 17, 2002.    __________________________________________   Theses   See theses abstracts at http://www.erc.montana.edu/Res-Lib99-SW/pubs/Theses/default.htm     __________________________________________   Web Watch   Biofilm Mechanics Research Area   Biofilm Mechanics now has web pages under the CBE Research Program web pages. See http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/research/default.htm _______   BiofilmsOnline.com   See the July issue of BiofilmsOnline.com at http://www.BiofilmsOnline.com.      _______   Recent Web Updates   Check the Recent Web Updates link located on the CBE home page, to view the latest information posted on the CBE web.   See <http://www.erc.montana.edu/Recent%20Web%20Updates/default.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