A Forensic Approach Towards Biofilm Management

生物膜管理的法医方法

• 批准号: 1437860
• 负责人: Sharon Walker
• 金额: $ 33.51万
• 依托单位: University of California-Riverside
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-02-01 至 2019-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1437860&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Forensic; Approach; Towards; Biofilm; Management

Walker1437860A Forensic Approach Towards Biofilm ManagementMembranes are becoming one of the technologies of choice for many applications in water and wastewater treatment. However, membranes suffer from the formation of a biological film (biofilm) that over time decreases their throughput or treatment efficiency. The development of biofilm resistant surfaces has been an ongoing research objective for several decades, with multiple strategies attempted with varying degrees of success. However, to date, no truly biofilm resistant materials are commercially available. In fact, many experts in the field are moving away from the notion that truly biofilm resistant surfaces can even exist, and instead, better biofilm management practices need to be developed. Current biofilm management practices rely on chemical cleaning agents not specifically tailored for a given biofilm, and therefore, cleaning strategies often rely on an iterative process designed to test "what works". This project will explore the tailoring of chemical cleaning strategies to specific biofilm and collector surface attributes, with the purpose of transforming biofilm management practices from a trial-and-error process to a scientifically grounded activity that relies on deep understanding of the relationship between individual biofilm components, collector surface properties, and different cleaning agents. This project will improve the understanding of biofilm cleaning methods and study the fundamental interactions between different elements of a microbial biofilm, collector surface properties, and different cleaning agents with the goal of developing transformative biofilm management practices. The outreach portion of this proposed work seeks to integrate research and education. Specifically, the PIs propose engaging veterans at Riverside Community College in the exciting world of environmental science and engineering through summer internships. These internships will provide experiential learning opportunities to both motivate and inform the veterans in the opportunities in environmental engineering. At the end of the summer internship, the Riverside Community College students will present their work at the University of California Riverside, Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium and at RCC.The specific objectives of the project are: 1) determination of the impact of representative cleaning agents on individual biofilm components; 2) evaluation of the interactions between collector surface characteristics and individual biofilm components; 3) determination of the impact of residual components of biofilms after microbial cleaning on re-fouling potential; and 4) optimization of microbial management practices. These objectives will be met with a combination of bacterial and surficial analysis techniques including a parallel plate flow chamber, confocal microscopy, and impedance spectroscopy. It is expected that this project will produce the following outcomes: 1) an understanding of the interactions between specific cleaning agents and individual components of a microbial biofilm that will aid in the design of more efficient cleaning strategies for microbially fouled surfaces, such as water treatment membranes; 2) a better understanding of the fundamental relationship between surface properties and individual biofilm components that will inform the engineering of biofilm-prone surfaces, such as membranes; 3) an understanding of the impact of residual biofilm components on the re-fouling of collector surfaces; and 4) a transformative biofilm management strategy based on the forensic investigation of biofouled properties coupled with a tailored cleaning approach optimized to specific biofilm compositions. The expected outcomes can be applied in multiple situations where biofouling is a major concern, enhancing the efficiency of important industrial processes such as heat exchangers and membrane-based water treatment processes.

生物膜处理的法医学方法膜正在成为水和废水处理中许多应用的首选技术之一。然而，膜会形成生物膜（生物膜），随着时间的推移，生物膜会降低其通量或处理效率。几十年来，生物膜抗性表面的开发一直是一个持续的研究目标，尝试了多种策略，取得了不同程度的成功。然而，到目前为止，没有真正的生物膜抗性材料可商购获得。事实上，该领域的许多专家正在远离真正的生物膜抗性表面甚至可以存在的概念，相反，需要开发更好的生物膜管理实践。目前的生物膜管理实践依赖于化学清洁剂，而不是专门针对给定的生物膜定制的，因此，清洁策略通常依赖于设计用于测试“什么起作用”的迭代过程。该项目将探索针对特定生物膜和收集器表面属性的化学清洁策略的定制，目的是将生物膜管理实践从试错过程转变为基于科学的活动，该活动依赖于对单个生物膜成分，收集器表面特性和不同清洁剂之间关系的深入理解。该项目将提高对生物膜清洁方法的理解，并研究微生物生物膜，收集器表面特性和不同清洁剂的不同元素之间的基本相互作用，以开发变革性生物膜管理实践为目标。这项拟议工作的外联部分力求将研究和教育结合起来。具体来说，PI建议通过暑期实习让滨江社区学院的退伍军人参与到令人兴奋的环境科学和工程世界中。这些实习将提供体验式学习机会，以激励和告知退伍军人在环境工程的机会。暑期实习结束后，滨江社区学院的学生将在加州大学滨江分校、本科生暑期研究研讨会和RCC上展示他们的工作。该项目的具体目标是：1）确定代表性清洁剂对单个生物膜组分的影响; 2）评估收集器表面特性和单个生物膜组分之间的相互作用; 3）确定微生物清洁后生物膜的残留组分对再污染可能性的影响;以及4）优化微生物管理实践。这些目标将满足细菌和表面活性剂分析技术的组合，包括平行板流动室，共聚焦显微镜，和阻抗谱。预计该项目将产生以下成果：1）了解特定清洁剂与微生物生物膜单个组分之间的相互作用，这将有助于设计更有效的清洁策略，用于微生物污染的表面，如水处理膜; 2）更好地理解表面性质和各个生物膜组分之间的基本关系，这将为生物膜倾向表面的工程设计提供信息，例如膜; 3）了解残留生物膜组分对收集器表面再污染的影响;以及4）基于生物污染特性的法医调查的变革性生物膜管理策略，再加上针对特定生物膜组合物优化的定制清洁方法。预期的结果可以应用于生物污垢是主要问题的多种情况，提高重要工业过程的效率，如热交换器和膜基水处理过程。