Harvesting and Disaggregation: An Overlooked Step in Biofilm Methods Research.

Biofilm methods consist of four distinct steps: growing the biofilm in a relevant model, treating the mature biofilm, harvesting the biofilm from the surface and disaggregating the clumps, and analyzing the sample. Of the four steps, harvesting and disaggregation are the least studied but nonetheless critical when considering the potential for test bias. This article demonstrates commonly used harvesting and disaggregation techniques for biofilm grown on three different surfaces.

Potential biofilm control strategies for extended spaceflight missions.

Biofilms, surface-adherent microbial communities, are associated with microbial fouling and corrosion in terrestrial water-distribution systems. Biofilms are also present in human spaceflight, particularly in the Water Recovery System (WRS) on the International Space Station (ISS). The WRS is comprised of the Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) and the Water Processor Assembly (WPA) which together recycles wastewater from human urine and recovered humidity from the ISS atmosphere.

The establishment of the CBE launched biofilms as a field of specialized research.

The Center for Biofilm Engineering was the first center of excellence focused on biofilms and was originally funded through the Engineering Research Center Program from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Predictive modeling for hot water inactivation of planktonic and biofilm-associated Sphingomonas parapaucimobilis to support hot water sanitization programs.

Hot water sanitization is a common means to maintain microbial control in process equipment for industries where microorganisms can degrade product or cause safety issues. This study compared the hot water inactivation kinetics of planktonic and biofilm-associated Sphingomonas parapaucimobilis at temperatures relevant to sanitization processes used in the pharmaceutical industry, viz. 65, 70, 75, and 80°C.

Monitoring of microbial souring in chemically treated, produced-water biofilm systems using molecular techniques.

The identification of bacteria in oil production facilities has previously been based on culture techniques. However, cultivation of bacteria from these often-extreme environments can lead to errors in identifying the microbial community members. In this study, molecular techniques including fluorescence in situ hybridization, PCR, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, and sequencing were used to track changes in bacterial biofilm populations treated with nitrate, nitrite, or nitrate+molybdate as agents for the control of sulfide production.

Effects of Motility and Adsorption Rate Coefficient on Transport of Bacteria through Saturated Porous Media.

Three strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens with different motility rates and adsorption rate coefficients were injected into porous-medium reactors packed with l-mm-diameter glass spheres. Cell breakthrough, time to peak concentration, tailing, and cell recovery were measured at three interstitial pore velocities (higher than, lower than, and much lower than the maximal bacterial motility rate). All experiments were done with distilled water to reduce the effects of growth and chemotaxis.

Diffusion and reaction within porous packing media: a phenomenological model.

A phenomenological model has been developed to describe biomass distribution and substrate depletion in porous diatomaceous earth (DE) pellets colonized by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The essential features of the model are diffusion, attachment and detachment to/from pore walls of the biomass, diffusion of substrate within the pellet, and external mass transfer of both substrate and biomass in the bulk fluid of a packed bed containing the pellets. A bench-scale reactor filled with DE pellets was inoculated with P.