Center for Biofilm Engineering

News Update: 

August, 2009

Volume 12, Issue 3

__________________________________________

Industry Highlights

Biofilm Science & Technology Meeting

It was our pleasure to host a number of Industrial Associate members, invited speakers and guests to the summer biofilm meeting held in Bozeman, MT, July 7-9, 2009. The Montana Biofilm Meeting featured sessions on industrial biofilms, dental biofilms, phenotypic heterogeneity, biofilm mechanics, environmental biofilms, and molecular methods in biofilm ecology. In addition to thought-provoking presentations from invited industrial and academic experts, we also showcased the research of 19 CBE faculty, staff and graduate students.

More highlights: Five reasons to attend the next Biofilm Science & Technology Meeting:


The Standardized Methods Workshop

The workshop is held the day prior to the meeting (July 6, 2009), so that attendees have the opportunity to learn about biofilms and the diverse environments in which they are found. They learned the importance of standardized methods for studying biofilm in vitro, as well as the importance of experimental design for biofilm studies.

_______

Kane Biotech, Inc. Features Biofilms

A 2009 segment of “The Economic Report,” hosted by Greg Gumbel, features CBE Industrial Associate Kane Biotech, Inc. The segment provides an excellent overview of biofilm, the Center for Biofilm Engineering, and Kane Biotech's strategies for addressing biofilm problems. See more information and view the video linked from the CBE’s homepage

_______

Industrial Associate News

Read more about membership information

__________________________________________

Research Highlights

Letter to the Editor: Wound Retreat

We are pleased to announce that a summary of the February 2009 Wound Retreat hosted by the CBE, has been published in the journal “Wound Repair and Regeneration.”

Letter to the Editor: Highlights from the Montana wound biofilm retreat
Ammons MCB, James GA, Stewart PS
Wound Rep Reg 2009; 17(4):626-627
Read abstract

_______

Faculty Research Award

The CBE is proud to present the 2009 Outstanding Faculty Research Award to Matthew Fields. It is awarded in recognition of Matthew’s outstanding success in building a large and active research group—including winning competitive grants, being a positive mentor to students engaged in research, encouraging constructive interdisciplinary teamwork and interaction, and contributing to other CBE projects and meetings.

See Faculty Research Awards

______

2009 CBE Outstanding Researcher Award

Betsey Pitts received this award in recognition of her development of the CBE microscopy facility, enthusiastic education and mentoring of numerous student, staff, and faculty microscope users, and for contributions to industrially sponsored projects.

See Outstanding Researcher Award

______

Metabolic Systems Analysis Workshop

Ross Carlson conducted “Metabolic Systems Analysis Workshop” at the Idaho National Laboratories, Idaho Falls, ID June 1-4, 2009. The two-day workshop included presentations and hands-on exercises, with the work centering on building, running, analyzing and interpreting properties of metabolic networks using computerized (often called in silico) approaches. It was attended by INL researchers, Idaho State University and Boise State researchers, as well as a researcher from Montana State University. In addition, graduate student Reed Taffs will be spending the next two months at INL to gain experience growing and analyzing a thermophillic bacterial species isolated from Yellowstone. The organism is of interest because it can convert biomass (cellulose, etc.) into useful products like lactic acid, which can be used for bioplastics and other applications.
 

_________________________________________

Latest CBE Publications

“Biofilms as biobarriers”
Lennox J, Ashe J
The American Biology Teacher 2009; 71(1):20-26

Read abstract

“Letter to the Editor: Highlights from the Montana wound biofilm retreat”
Ammons MCB, James GA, Stewart PS
Wound Rep Reg 2009; 17(4):626-627

Read abstract

"Daptomycin rapidly penetrates a Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm"
Stewart PS, Davison WM, Steenbergen JN
Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2009; 53:3505-3507

Read abstract

"Proteomic and transcriptomic analyses reveal genes upregulated by cis-Dichloroethene in Polaromonas sp. strain JS666"
Jennings LK, Chartrand MMG, Lacrampe-Couloume G, Lollar BS, Spain JC, Gossett JM
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2009; 75(11) 3733-3744

Read abstract

"Lakes of Antarctica"
Priscu J, Foreman CM
In: Encyclopedia of Inland Waters., ed, G. Likens Elsevier (2009, In Press).

Read abstract

"Glaciers"
Tranter M, Bagshaw L, Fountain A, Foreman CM
In: Astrobiological Analogues: Life in Antarctic Deserts and other Cold Dry Environments, eds P Doran, B Lyons and D McKnight, (2009, In Press).

"T2 –T2 exchange in biofouled porous media"
Hornemann J, Codd S, Romanenko K, Seymour J
Diffusion Fundamentals 10 (2009) 1.1 - 1.3

Read abstract

"Integration and decontamination of Bacillus cereus in Pseudomonas fluorescens biofilms"
Altman SJ, McGrath LK, Souza CA, Murton JK, Camper AK
Journal of Applied Microbiology 2009;107:287–299

Read abstract

"Detection and enumeration of haloacetic acid-degrading bacteria in drinking water distribution systems using dehalogenase genes"
Leach LH, Zhang P, LaPara TM, Hozalski RM, Camper AK
Journal of Applied Microbiology e-published March 2009

Read abstract

“Escherichia coli O157:H7 requires colonizing partner to adhere and persist in a capillary flow cell"
Klayman BJ, Volden PA, Stewart PS, Camper AK
Environ Sci Technol 2009; 43(6):2105–2111

Read abstract

“Biofilm enhanced subsurface sequestration of supercritical CO2”
Mitchell AC, Phillips A, Hiebert R, Gerlach R, Cunningham AB
International Journal Greenhouse Gas Control 2009; 3(1):90-99

Read abstract
 

_________________________________________

Education

MSU honors 19 at Day of Student Recognition

Nineteen students were honored this spring during Montana State University's 86th Day of Student Recognition. Trevor Zuroff, junior in chemical engineering, was inducted into Septemviri and received a Christy Foundation Scholarship. Septemviri is a senior honorary that recognizes seven outstanding juniors based upon extraordinary scholarship, leadership and service to MSU. The Christy scholarship goes to students who bring special recognition to MSU based on community leadership and service. Zuroff's parents are Gary and Kari Zuroff.

_______

Thesis Alert

“Magnetic resonance microscopy studies of biofilms: Diffusion, hydrodynamics, and porous media,” thesis defense by Jennifer Hornemann, PhD candidate in Chemical and Biological Engineering, Montana State University, June 2009.

View thesis abstracts

_________________________________________

Outreach

Visitors

M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust Executive Director Steve Moore and Program Directors John Van Zytveld and Dana Miller visited the MSU campus on July 21, 2009. Betsey Pitts and Anne Camper hosted their visit to the CBE facilities, where they met with numerous students and toured the CBE microscope facility. Joe Seymour and Sarah Codd and lab also gave them a tour of the MSU Magnetic Resonance Lab.

Professor Beata Cwalina and four PhD students: Weronika Janosz, Anna Rozik, Adam Sochacki, Rafal Czubasiewicz from The Silesian University of Technology Environmental Biotechnology Department in Gliwice, Poland, visited the Center June 22-24, 2009. The visit was part of Zbigniew Lewandowski’s collaboration associated with establishing a biofilm research program at the Silesian University of Technology.

Dr.Yi Wang, an Associate Professor at Xi’an University Architecture & Technology in Xi’an,China, will be working in the Biofilm Control Lab as a visiting scientist for the next 12 months. Dr. Wang has a PhD in Environmental Engineering and will be investigating aspects of biofilm mechanics and cohesion during her time at CBE; and she intends to connect this work to her interest in water and wastewater engineering.

Kenichi Yoshida, as part of Long-Term Education Administrators Program (LEAP), will be interning at the CBE until October. Kenichi is from Tsuchiura-shi, Japan.

Danielle Kinsey is an undergraduate student at Fort Belknap College and is working in Matthew Fields' lab this summer as part of the American Indian Research Opportunities (AIRO) BRIDGES program. She works with Kristen Brileya on methanogenic cultures.

Travis Harrer is a ChBE undergraduate who just completed his sophomore year in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Programs and is working in Robin Gerlach’s lab on projects related to microbially induced carbonate mineral precipitation. He recently worked with Abbie Richards and is also currently working with Jeff Heys (both associated faculty from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering) on a part time basis on a biofilm modeling project.

_________________________________________

CBE People in Action

Logan Schultz presented, “Imaging biomineralization in flow systems” at the Microscopy and Microanalysis Conference, Richmond, VA, July 25-31, 2009.

Phil Stewart as invited speaker presented “Biofilms in chronic wounds,” at the Gordon Research Conference, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH June 15-18, 2009.

Paul Sturman and Anne Camper presented, “Biofilms in industrial processes” to The Sherwin-Williams Company, Cleveland, OH, June 3, 2009.

Ross Carlson presented a bioinformatics workshop at Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, June 1-4, 2009.

Garth James and Paul Sturman as invited speakers presented “Urinary catheter biofilms and solutions” at Providence Health & Services’ “Foley Tubing Demonstration,” Renton, WA, May 20, 2009.

Laura Jennings presented a poster "Expression of a novel ncRNA in Pseudomonas aeruginosa during stationary-phase growth and iron starvation" at the 109th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, Philadelphia, PA, May 17-21, 2009.

Al Cunningham presented, “Microbially enhanced carbonate mineralization and geologic containment of sequestered supercritical CO2," at the 8th Annual Conference on
Carbon Capture & Sequestration, Pittsburgh, PA, May 4-7, 2009. Co-authors: Logan Schultz, Robin Gerlach, John P Kaszuba, Stacy Parks, Lee Spangler, Andrew C Mitchell.
 

_________________________________________

Web Watch

Subscribe to BiofilmsOnline.com

Visit www.BiofilmsOnline.com for more biofilm news and information.

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter.

Sponsor BiofilmsOnline.com

_________________________________________

Newsletter Listserv

Subscribe or unsubscribe to the newsletter by following these instructions. The CBE News Update is a listserv newsletter.

View the monthly CBE News Update on our web site.

Access Newsletter Archives

__________________________________________