Center for Biofilm Engineering

News Update: 

March, 2005

Volume 8, Issue 3

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Research Highlights

Paper Spotlight

Research aims to reduce the risk of infection from implanted devices

Practically all synthetic surgical devices have shown evidence of bacterial biofilm colonization. A recent investigation of factors contributing to the bacterial colonization of implanted devices, especially in hernia repair, explores the causes of infection and the steps that could be taken to prevent and control the infections. This study provides readers with a brief introduction to the nature of biofilms and their behavior in nature, as well as an overview of the mechanisms of biofilm resistance to host immune responses and antibiotics. Also discussed are the bacteria commonly responsible for infection and the evolution of materials used in hernia repair to reduce susceptibility to bacterial colonization. Further progress in the development of improved implant material could greatly reduce the risk of infection from such devices.

"Bacterial Colonization of Implanted Devices"
W.P. Reed Jr. and R. Veeh
In: Hernia Infections 2003; 259-272

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Update on Director Candidates

Phil Stewart, interim director of the Center for Biofilm Engineering has been accepted as a candidate for the Director position and will be interviewing March 21-22. Candidate Brenda Little, Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, interviewed January 13-14 and candidate Staffan Kjelleberg resigned from the hiring process before interviewing.

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New Industrial Associate Members

The CBE welcomes Masco as its newest Industrial Associate. Masco makes a variety of building products, but their main interest in biofilms is from their line of plumbing products, particularly those sold to companies with sensitive applications such as hospitals. The designated representative is Bill Schwingel, formerly of Dow. See the Masco website at: http://www.masco.com

See the CBE’s Industrial Associates at:
http://www.erc.montana.edu/Ind-Col99-SW/IAP/ialist.htm

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Collaboration

Rick Veeh has been collaborating with Dr. Rod Donlan and Lisa Hodges at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on a prostatitis project. He recently visited the CDC (February 21-25) to investigate biofilm formation in needle-biopsied prostate tissue obtained from Dr. John Krieger, a collaborator at the University of Washington. They used fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and a number of other staining methods in this work.

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Procter & Gamble Award

Former CBE director, J. William Costerton is the recipient of the Procter & Gamble Award in Applied and Environmental Microbiology for his work demonstrating the importance of microbial biofilms in industrial, medical and natural environments. Congratulations, Bill!

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Recent CBE Publications

"Magnetic Resonance Microscopy Analysis of Advective Transport in a Biofilm Reactor"
Gjersing, E.L., S.L. Codd, J.D. Seymour and P.S. Stewart
Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 89(7): 822-834 (2005)

"Statistical Assessment of a Laboratory Method for Growing Biofilms"
Goeres, D.M., L.R. Loetterle, M.A. Hamilton, R. Murga, D.W. Kirby and R.M. Donlan
Microbiology 151:757–762 (2005)

To read these paper abstracts or to order paper copies see:
http://www.erc.montana.edu/Res-Lib99-SW/pubs/Database/PD_DisplayScript.asp

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Media Highlights

Bioglyphs continue to capture attention and pique curiosity

BioTechniques: The International Journal of Life Science Methods (circulation of 85,000) published an article, "Living Canvas," about the CBE web site's artistic bioglyph images. The article praises Bioglyphs as "the most unusual amalgams of art and biology to be found." See full article at: http://www.erc.montana.edu/Res-Lib99-SW/newsarchives/HTML/2005/BioTechniques.htm

Living Canvas
by Kevin Ahern
BioTechniques January 2005; Vol 38(1):21
 

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Education

Contribution

As a result of a successful year of organized events, the Structure-Function Team donated $4,000 to the W.G. Characklis Award. W.G. (Bill) Characklis was the Center’s founder, and since year 2000, this award has been presented to a Center for Biofilm Engineering PhD student by Nancy Characklis. We thank the Structure-Function Team for this generous contribution!

Structure-Function Team:
Zbigniew Lewandowski
Haluk Beyenal
Raaja Raajan Angathevar Veluchamy
Enrico Marsili
Goksel Demir
Joseph Menicucci
Deepak Sharma
Kyung Yeon
Chelsea Grace
Sarah Golden
Avinash (Avi) Shantaram
Allison Rhoads
Conrad Donovan

See Characklis Award recipients at: http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/education/CharacklisAward/ed-basics-wgc.htm

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CBE People In Action

Phil Stewart presented “Sustainability Themes at the Center for Biofilm Engineering,” EPSCoR University Research Leadership Retreat on Centers Development, Washington, DC, February 23, 2005.

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Biofilm Education Resources

Upcoming CBE Workshops

“Biofilm Methods Workshop,” organized by the CBE in partnership with the Biofilm Institute at Montana State University, July 5, 2005 See the tentative agenda at:

http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/whats_new/sTAC05_Wrkshp.pdf

For more information about the Biofilm Methods Workshops go to http://www.erc.montana.edu/Ind-Col99-SW/Workshops/index.htm

“Biofilm Structure Quantification and Image Analysis,” sponsored by the CBE Structure-Function Research Group, Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University, July 21–22, 2005

“Microsensors: Manufacture and Applications,” sponsored by the CBE Structure-Function Research Group, Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University, August 8–12, 2005

“Bioelectrochemistry: Microbially Influenced Corrosion and Microbial Fuel Cells,” sponsored by the CBE Structure-Function Research Group, Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University, August 24–27, 2005

For more information on the workshops go to http://www.erc.montana.edu/CBEssentials-SW/research/workshops/default.htm

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Web Watch

BiofilmsOnline.com

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

Subscribe to the bi-weekly newsletter by registering at: http://www.biofilmsonline.com/cgi-bin/biofilmsonline/newsletter_signup.html

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Newsletter Listserve

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

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