Center for Biofilm Engineering

News Update: 

August, 2003

Volume 6, Issue 8

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Research Highlights

Paper Spotlight by Steve Hunt

The computer model named BacLAB simulates the life cycle of a bacterial biofilm. This life cycle begins with the initial colonization of a surface and continues through the development of a mature biofilm by mimicking the physical behavior of a system with a simple set of experimentally determined “rules” applied locally to the smallest possible biofilm unit (the cell). These local “rules,” however, lead to patterns on a larger scale. Much as bacterial cells organize themselves in a biofilm as a response to individual spatial conditions, the resulting model structure is produced in a process of self-organization rather than by some predetermined global plan for biofilm development. This self-organization facilitates the model’s ability to adequately capture the inherent variability observed in laboratory biofilms. In this paper a computer simulation study was conducted to examine a conjectured detachment mechanism involving a bacterially produced chemical detachment factor. Bacteria detached from the computer-simulated biofilm when there was a persistently high local concentration of the detachment factor. Results have demonstrated that the typical biofilm eventually attained a steady state where biofilm growth was counterbalanced by detachment. Also, the often observed ‘mushroom-shaped’ structure occurred because the detachment events created voids, leaving the remaining attached cells in towers and loosely attached clusters.

See a biofilm modeling movie at
http://www.erc.montana.edu/Res-Lib99-SW/newsarchives/HTML/2003/BacLAB.htm (approximately 1.2 MB file)

Hunt, S.M., M.A. Hamilton, J.T. Sears, G. Harkin, and J. Reno, "A Computer Investigation of Chemically Mediated Detachment in Bacterial Biofilms," Microbiology, 149:1155-1163 (2003).
 

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Looking at Biofilms with a New Perspective

The Center Microscopy Facility recently expanded its biofilm imaging capability with the acquisition of a Leica AOBS confocal and a Leica\Spectra Physics 2-photon confocal system. The microscopes were officially up and running the first week of July. The funding for the new equipment came from a proposal authored by Luanne Hall-Stoodley that was submitted to the Murdock Charitable Trust. The new confocal represents the very latest in Leica technology, and has already changed our view of biofilms. In particular, the "basic" part of our new system, the AOBS, is an extremely flexible confocal imaging system, especially suited to separating fluorescence signals that may not be well separated spectrally. The more specialized part of our new system, the 2-photon, uses the same microscope, but a completely different excitation laser and detector. The 2-photon confocal is particularly useful on thick, tissue-like samples, because the depth penetration of the laser light is much greater than for regular (1-photon) confocal, resulting in much deeper imaging capability. The 2-photon has already changed what we know of biofilms; for example we can see as much as four times further into biofilms with the 2-photon. In the linked images, the top-down view or maximum projection view of a S. epidermidis biofilm is shown in image (a), and looks similar using 1- or 2-photon confocal. The reconstructed side view of an image is where the increased depth penetration of the 2-photon becomes obvious. The same area of S. epidermidis was imaged with the AOBS 1-photon (b) and the 2-photon (c) and the reconstructed side views are shown for each.

See S. epidermidis biofilm image at http://www.erc.montana.edu/Res-Lib99-SW/newsarchives/HTML/2003/2photon.htm

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New Biosafety Officer

Linda Loetterle has been appointed CBE Biosafety Officer. Linda has worked in the Cell-Cell Communication and BSTL laboratories and has previous acted as the CBE Biological Agent custodian. She will have oversight of the CBE Biological Safety Program, schedule and teach the CBE Biosafety Training courses, and in general, assure that the CBE Biosafety Policy regulations are implemented and are in accordance with MSU Biosafety Policy.

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Farewell

Phil Butterfield will be leaving the CBE at the beginning of September for a position as Research Scientist in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, at the University of Washington. Nine years ago, Phil came to the CBE after 17 years of consulting experience to pursue his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering. Upon completion of his degree, he continued his involvement with drinking water research at the CBE, where he has been an integral member of a team that has successfully completed numerous projects. In addition to his research accomplishments, he has mentored many graduate and undergraduate students, provided training to staff, participated in nearly every TAC meeting, taught courses in Civil Engineering, and provided his expertise to the community as chair of the Local Water Quality District. We’ll miss Phil’s quips at our lab meetings, his unwavering “sure, I’ll help you with that” attitude, his scientific and engineering expertise, and his camaraderie. We wish him all the best at UW.

Phil intends to continue research in the areas of drinking water, reclaimed water, biofilm, pathogens and public health.

New contact information:
Phillip Butterfield
University of Washington
School of Public Health & Community Medicine
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
4225 Roosevelt Way NE, Suite 100
Box 354695
Seattle, WA 98195-6099

Until he has an office phone, Phil can be reached at (206) 543-6991.
 

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Biofilm Manual

A few years ago, it became clear that the CBE laboratory and field methodologies could be important technologies in their own right. In response to that insight, the CBE created a research area called Standardized Biofilm Methods which, among other goals, sought to identify generally applicable methods used to grow, treat, sample, and analyze biofilms. The product of that effort was a manual of methods, published in-house for private circulation. The protocol manual became an important component of technology transfer from the CBE to industry. Comments from users of the manual indicated that the privately-distributed editions of the manual were highly prized. Now the CBE and its Industrial Associates have chosen to publish the current collection of protocols so that they will be generally available. The decision to produce The Biofilm Laboratory: Step-by-step protocols for experimental design, analysis, and data interpretation, is consistent with the CBE vision of being renowned for the synthesis and dissemination of information and education about biofilm systems.

For purchasing information, and to read the manual’s Table of Contents, Preface and Introduction see: http://www.erc.montana.edu/Res-Lib99-SW/Biofilm%20Manual/
 

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Education

CBE Researchers Provide Biofilm Science Training in New Series of E-Learning Short Courses

Drs. Bill Costerton and Phil Stewart are featured faculty members in a new series of science
e-learning short courses offered by Cytergy (www.CYTERGY.com). TAC Member Companies are eligible for a 25% discount off any Cytergy products, including both single user and enterprise product licenses. Order by telephone (mention our TAC Coupon Code: CBE603) to receive your discount: +1.406.582.0846.

Biofilm Biotechnology: Recent Advances in the Understanding of Proteomics, Genomics, and Signaling in Biofilms, by Dr. Bill Costerton
http://www.cytergy.com/cgi-bin/cytergy/CW_SHC_2003_0007.html

Battling Chronic Infections: A State of the Science Review of Antimicrobial Resistance in Biofilms, by Dr. Phil Stewart
http://www.cytergy.com/cgi-bin/cytergy/CW_SHC_2003_0010.html

Medical Biofilm Microbiology: The Role of Microbial Biofilms in Disease, Chronic Infections, and Medical Device Failure, by Dr. Bill Costerton
http://www.cytergy.com/cgi-bin/cytergy/CW_SHC_2003_0011

In addition to these short courses by Drs. Costerton and Stewart, biofilm science courses are also offered at Cytergy's WWW site by other friends of the CBE, including Dr. Buddy Ratner (UWEB), Dr. Joel Berg (University of Washington), and Dr. Chris McInnes (Philips Oral Healthcare).

Cytergy short courses are available in CD-ROM or Internet (streaming) formats, and can be
purchased online, or by phone, fax, or mail. Purchase orders and credit cards are accepted.

Cytergy is releasing several more biofilm science training products in 2003.
 

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Upcoming CBE Workshops

Biofilm Methods Workshop
 

October 20-21, 2003
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 two-day workshop is $1500. If you are interested in more information about the workshop, please contact Paul Sturman (paul_stu@erc.montana.edu).
 

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CBE People in Action

Bill Costerton, invited speaker, presented "Biofilms in Device-Related and Other Chronic Bacterial Infections," Gordon Research Conference on Applied and Environmental Microbiology, New London, Connecticut, July 28-30, 2003.

Phil Stewart, invited speaker, presented “Do Biocides Penetrate Biofilms?” at the Society of International Microbiology meeting, Minneapolis, MN, August 12, 2003.

  
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Check It Out!  The CBE Annual Report

The CBE homepage has a new look, with a different navigation scheme and a more flexible construction for featuring certain parts of our web.

There are some new additions:

You can read the Annual Report --- IN FULL COLOR --- from the web site!! There are lots of pictures of people in the AR this year.

There is a new interactive diagram about biofilm. If you are new to the world of biofilms, this may be a particularly good way to get a handle on some of the research implications of microbial biofilms and areas of CBE research. (Note: in spite of extensive investigation and work, we were unable to get Netscape to display animations consistently --- we recommend using MS Explorer when you want to view animations on the CBE site.)

We hope that you and our other web visitors will find the new homepage a better gateway to the CBE website.

New homepage: http://www.erc.montana.edu/

CBE Annual Report: http://www.erc.montana.edu/Res-Lib99-SW/AnnualReports/default.htm

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

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Biofilms Journal

Announcement and Call for Papers
See http://www.erc.montana.edu/Res-Lib99-SW/newsarchives/Biofilms%20Journal/default.htm

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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> 

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