Center for Biofilm Engineering

News Update: 

January, 2003

Volume 6, Issue 1

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Research Highlights

Upcoming Technical Advisory Conference

The winter 2003 Technical Advisory Conference (TAC) will be held here in Bozeman, Montana, February 6th-7th. The agenda is posted on the CBE web at http://www.erc.montana.edu/Ind-Col99-SW/IAP/tac/AgendaTACFeb03.html. There will be sessions on:

• Distribution System Biofilms
• Biofilm Methods and Regulatory Update
• Medical Applications
• Mechanical Disruption of Biofilms
• Biofilm Structure and Function
Plus other topics of general biofilm interest.

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Equipment Grant

The Murdock Charitable Trust has awarded the CBE with a $629,000 grant to purchase a new confocal scanning laser microscope and also a sorting flow cytometer. These new pieces of equipment will be added in the next year and will ensure that the CBE imaging facility remains state-of-the-art. The pairing of a flow cytometer with CBE’s microscopes will give researchers the ability to pair quantitative data from the cytometer with microscope images. Special recognition and thanks go to Luanne Hall-Stoodley who was the primary author of the proposal.
 

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Biomedical Grants

Dr. Mark Shirtliff received two grants pertaining to the study of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms. The grants will help further identify vaccine candidates and antimicrobial targets, and analyze Staphylococcus aureus biofilms using DNA microarrays and 2D gel electrophoresis. These awards were received from the Culpepper Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Montana Network for Biomedical Research Opportunities. Co-principal investigators are Dr. Anne Camper, Montana State University, and Dr. Jeff Leid, Northern Arizona University.

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Invitation for Abstracts

Biofilms 2003 is set for Victoria BC, Canada, from November 1 - 6, 2003. The Organizing Committee has invited 28 speakers. The deadline for abstract submission is July 30, 2003, but early abstracts are invited and will be considered for platform presentations by the appropriate session chairperson. The meeting will generally follow the format of Snowbird 1996 and Biofilms 2000. The middle day of the meeting (Tuesday Nov 4th) will be dedicated to workshops and demonstrations of biofilm-specific techniques. Early registration is strongly recommended because attendance will be capped at 1,000.

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Upcoming CBE Workshops

Biofilm Methods Workshop

The CBE is offering a workshop on April 14-15, 2003, at Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA. The workshop will cover:

- analysis and repeatability of biofilm measurements
- aseptic technique
- biofilm reactor design considerations
- four stages of biofilm study (growth, sampling, treatment, analysis)
- reactor protocols (set up, inoculation, treatment)
- anaerobic reactor design and operation
- microscopy for biofilm enumeration
- using fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH) probes to study biofilms, and
- biosafety instruction.

The cost of the 2-day workshop is $1500. If you are interested in more information about the workshop, please contact Paul Sturman (paul_stu@erc.montana.edu).

Biofilm Image Analysis Workshop

July 10-11, 2003
Registration: see http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/research/Structure_function/default.htm

Microsensors Workshop

August 11-15, 2003
Registration: see http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/research/Structure_function/default.htm
 

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Art and Science

Bioglyphs in New York City

Betsey Pitts, CBE research associate and microscopist; Peg Dirckx, CBE communications specialist; and Sara Mast, MSU art professor, led a breakout session on new initiatives in interdisciplinary collaborations at the conference “ArtSci2002: new dimensions in collaboration” in New York City, December 6–8, 2002. The symposium was sponsored by Art & Science Collaborations, Inc. (ASCI), in partnership with the American Museum of Natural History and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. The conference’s featured speakers included art/science teams from the U.S., Ireland, Belgium, Mexico, Sweden, and the UK. One of the MSU Bioglyphs images from the first collaboration was also featured in ASCI’s December 2002 online newsletter, which is sent to ASCI members all around the world.

In conjunction with the conference, the three MSU representatives led an art/science Bioglyphs collaboration at Manhattan College, resulting in a second Bioglyphs exhibition (see www.erc.montana.edu/Bioglyphs for information about MSU’s inaugural Bioglyphs collaboration). The installation, on display at Manhattan College’s O’Malley Library December 7–10, featured over 1,400 petri dishes colonized by bioluminescent bacteria, prepared by artists and environmental engineering students. The Manhattan College students were recruited by Dr. Robert Sharp, who is a doctoral graduate of the CBE and now an Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering at Manhattan. The lead student of the Manhattan College collaborators was Margo Adgie, an Environmental Engineering graduate student, who studied biofilm bioremediation at the CBE in the summer of 2002.

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Education

Research Opportunity for the CBE Industrial Associates: Sponsor an REU Student!

The CBE is extending an invitation to the Industrial Associates to submit a two-page research proposal appropriate for a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) student. The REU program brings talented students from across the US to the CBE for a ten-week intensive research program that includes laboratory research, oral and written communications development, ethics seminars and industrial interaction. For more information about this opportunity, go to http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/education/REU/industry.htm or contact Darla Goeres at darla_g@erc.montana.edu.

The deadline for submission is March 10, 2003.

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Visitor

Dr. Christoph Fux, a visiting scientist from Switzerland will be working at the CBE until July 2004. Christoph is an M.D. specializing in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease from the University Hospital in Berne, Switzerland. Christoph is particularly interested in medical biofilms. In his own words: “The daily sorrow with catheter-related infections brought me in contact with the biofilm concept. Recently, I worked on a research project assessing colonization dynamics of hemodialysis catheters. The study focused on coagulase-negative staphylococci and evaluated different clinical strains for genetic relatedness, presence of virulence factors and the diagnostic value of varying colony morphologies on culture.”

Christoph’s project at the CBE, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, will concentrate on the development of an in vitro biofilm model for the study of pneumococcal nasopharyngeal colonization. Colonization mechanisms are poorly understood but clinically relevant, since pneumococci frequently colonize the upper respiratory tract, are the most common cause of respiratory tract infections, and comprise a significant cause of bacteremia and sepsis.

Christoph will be collaborating with Bill Costerton, Luanne Hall-Stoodley and Allen Harmsen from Veterinary Molecular Biology, as well as scientists at the University of Berne on this interdisciplinary project.

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CBE People in Action

Bill Costerton taught a PhD course “Biofilms in Nature and Diseases,” at the University of Concepcion, Chile, December 9-13, 2002

Thomas Borch gave an invited talk, “Influence of Biogenically Produced Fe(II), Electron Shuttling, and Humic Acid on the Fate of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT),” Department of Analytical Chemistry at Lund University, Sweden., December 19, 2002.

Ryan Jordan gave a short course seminar via an online distance learning program, entitled “Microbial Biofilms and Their Role in Human Health,” December 19, 2002. It was hosted by the Environmental Institute for Continuing Education.
 

The CBE web was acknowledged by Microsoft.com as a great FrontPage-based web site and an education related standout.

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

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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> 

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