Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE)

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/9334

At the Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE), multidisciplinary research teams develop beneficial uses for microbial biofilms and find solutions to industrially relevant biofilm problems. The CBE was established at Montana State University, Bozeman, in 1990 as a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center. As part of the MSU College of Engineering, the CBE gives students a chance to get a head start on their careers by working on research teams led by world-recognized leaders in the biofilm field.

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Author: search.filters.author.Azevedo, Nuno F.search.filters.applied.f.department: search.filters.department.Center for Biofilm Engineering.

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    Interactions of microorganisms within a urinary catheter polymicrobial biofilm model
    (Wiley, 2022-09) Allkja, Jontana; Goeres, Darla M.; Azevedo, Andreia S.; Azevedo, Nuno F.
    Biofilms are often polymicrobial in nature, which can impact their behavior and overall structure, often resulting in an increase in biomass and enhanced antimicrobial resistance. Using plate counts and locked nucleic acid/2′-O-methyl-RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (LNA/2′OMe-FISH), we studied the interactions of four species commonly associated with catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI): Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans, and Proteus mirabilis. Eleven combinations of biofilms were grown on silicone coupons placed in 24-well plates for 24 h, 37°C, in artificial urine medium (AUM). Results showed that P. mirabilis was the dominant species and was able to inhibit both E. coli and C. albicans growth. In the absence of P. mirabilis, an antagonistic relationship between E. coli and C. albicans was observed, with the former being dominant. E. faecalis growth was not affected in any combination, showing a more mutualistic relationship with the other species. Imaging results correlated with the plate count data and provided visual verification of species undetected using the viable plate count. Moreover, the three bacterial species showed overall good repeatability SD (Sr) values (0.1–0.54) in all combinations tested, whereas C. albicans had higher repeatability Sr values (0.36–1.18). The study showed the complexity of early-stage interactions in polymicrobial biofilms. These interactions could serve as a starting point when considering targets for preventing or treating CAUTI biofilms containing these species.
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    Biofilms vs. cities and humans vs. aliens – a tale of reproducibility in biofilms
    (Elsevier BV, 2021-06) Azevedo, Nuno F.; Allkja, Jontana; Goeres, Darla M.
    In recent decades the scientific community has started to appreciate that most microorganisms live in complex 3D structures composed of cells, polysaccharides, and other components such as proteins, extracellular (e)DNA, and lipids. These structures are commonly designated 'biofilms'. Similar to other areas of research, biofilm studies have been affected by a lack of reproducibility. In this article, we propose a new scheme on how to classify the level of reproducibility in biofilms. This consists of four different levels: level 1, no reproducibility; level 2, standard reproducibility; level 3, potential standard reproducibility; and level 4, total reproducibility. Some methods aim to improve reproducibility by focusing on biofilm growth reactors, while others focus on biofilm characterization methods. Moreover, initiatives such as minimum information guidelines and biofilm-centered databases offer alternative strategies to tackle the reproducibility problem. The path to total reproducibility is certainly complex, but novel experimental and computational strategies are bringing us closer to achieving this goal.
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