The design of this project builds on the strengths of the Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE - Montana State University) and the Center for Marine Biofouling and Bio-Inovation (BMBB - University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia). As the CBE began to discover the structural complexity and architectural sophistication of biofilms, it became obvious that some form of cell-cell signaling must be operative in these biofilms. The CBE is to build a Biofilm Behavior Screenging Unit (BBSU) that will use confocal scanning microscopy (CSLM) and state-of-the-art image analysis to detect the effects of putative biofilm control molecules on biofilm formation and detachment. The CMBB discovered that some marine plants are protected from biofilm formation on their surfaces by a class of chemical compounds (furanones) that resemble the cell-cell signals (acyl-homoerine lactones - AHLs) used by bacteria for "quorum sensing". Both Centers will continue to determine the effects of natural AHLs and AHL antagonists on biofilm formation and detachmment and will cooperate in the selection of chemically stable, economical, nontoxic AHLs and AHL-like molecules that will serve industry as environmentally benign biofilm control agents.
