Center for Biofilm Engineering

News Update: 

May, 2005

Volume 8, Issue 5

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Research Highlights

Paper Spotlight by Kevin Grealish

Biofilm exists on fresh produce and household surfaces

Food-borne illness affects millions of people and causes thousands of deaths every year in the United States. Food contamination is not limited to large-scale facilities such as cafeterias, but it is a problem associated with household surfaces as well. Most household surface cleaners are tested for killing efficiency against free-living or “planktonic” bacteria, but these products may be ineffective at removing surface-attached microbes protected by the extracellular polymeric (EPS) matrix of a biofilm. The purpose of recent experiments at the CBE was to image a range of household surfaces, including food, laundry and kitchen items, using cryostage scanning electron microscopy (CSEM) and light microscopy to assess the prevalence of biofilms/EPS on these surfaces under normal storage, processing and wear conditions. The study results indicated that biofilms were present on all of the surfaces tested. This information suggests that there is a need to develop sanitizer test systems that specifically target effects on biofilm-associated bacteria in order to accurately assess product efficacy. Presently, there are no such methods that have been approved or endorsed by regulatory agencies in this regard.

Prevalence of Microbial Biofilms on Selected Fresh Produce and Household Surfaces
Rayner, J., R. Veeh and J. Flood
Int. J. Food Microbiol. 2004; 95:29-39

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NSF Grant Announcement

Christine Foreman and John Priscu were awarded a $254,827 grant from the National Science Foundation for a project titled "Paleo Records of Biotic & Abiotic Particles in Polar Ice Cores." The group is studying life in ice cores and studying the surfaces with the assumption that life could be found as a biofilm attached to particles. The grant runs from June 1, 2005 through May 31, 2007.

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Drinking Water Research Activities

An Award

A team of consultants, researchers, and drinking water utilities was awarded the American Academy of Environmental Engineer’s Excellence in Environmental Engineering Grand Prize in Research and the American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts’ Grand Conceptor Award for the project “Evaluation of Ozone and Ultraviolet Light.” The project confirmed that a combination of ozone and UV can yield a high degree of disinfection, lower levels of harmful byproducts and minimize unfavorable distributed-water effects. Anne Camper was one of the research participants on the project lead by the consulting company Black & Veatch.

National Academies of Science and Engineering Meeting

Anne Camper attended the third meeting in a series for the Committee on Public Water Supply Distribution Systems for the Water Science and Technology Board of the National Academies of Science and Engineering in Washington, D.C. on April 18th and 19th. The group is charged with producing a document that provides recommendations on the management and possible regulation of drinking water distribution systems.

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Recent CBE Publications

"Monitoring of Microbial Souring in Chemically Treated, Produced-water Biofilm Systems using Molecular Techniques"
Kjellerup, B.V., R.H. Veeh, P. Sumithraratne, T.R. Thomsen, K. Buckingham-Meyer, B. Frølund and P. Sturman
J. Industrial Microbiol. Biotech. [Epub ahead of print] April 21, 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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Education

Microbes Course at MSU

A new course titled "Microbes in the Environment" will be offered at Montana State University–Bozeman for the Fall 2005 semester. It will be taught by CBE staff member Al Cunningham and CBE graduate students Ben Klayman, William Davison, and Stewart Clark. The course is designed for underclass non-science majors and is intended to introduce students to the various roles microbes play in the world around us; this will be done with environmental, medical, and industrial teaching modules.

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Outreach

Expanding Your Horizons

Linda Loetterle, Anne Camper, Darla Goeres, Rafaella Pulcini and Shannon Goeres conducted a workshop titled, "Hot Tubs: Much more than a relaxing soak," during the 2005 Expanding Your Horizons in Science and Mathematics event at MSU campus on April 16, 2005. The workshop was conducted at the CBE Education Laboratory.

The goal of the program is to offer young women in grades 6, 7 and 8 the chance to interact with women engaged in math- and science-related careers. Through this interaction, the young women are exposed to positive role models and are encouraged to continue taking math and science courses throughout high school and into college. During the laboratory sessions, students were able to perform water chemistry analyses and learn how to keep hot tub water clean and safe while also exploring career options in microbiology, biotechnology and engineering.

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Visitors

David Yonge and Brent Peyton from Washington State University brought Russian scientists Andrei Filonov and Irina Kosheleva to visit the CBE on April 26, 2005. Andrei and Irina are engaged in environmental biotechnology research and in biodegradation of aromatic compounds in particular.

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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 May 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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