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Bioremediation and Biofilms

Bioremediation and Biofilms. Links: Princeton Bioremediation Bioremediation in Alaska. How does this photo relate to pollution cleanup?. The plaque on your teeth are part of a biofilm Biofilms :

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Bioremediation and Biofilms

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  1. Bioremediation and Biofilms Links: Princeton Bioremediation Bioremediation in Alaska

  2. How does this photo relate to pollution cleanup? The plaque on your teeth are part of abiofilm Biofilms: A biofilm is composed of living, reproducing microorganisms, such as bacteria, that exist as a colony, or community.

  3. What are Biofilms: microorganisms living on surfaces Natural Industrial Dental / medical

  4. Biofilms Have Been Around for a Long Time

  5. Biofilm formation in “living fossils”

  6. How do Biofilms Form? • Microorganisms adhere to the surface of some object in a moist environment and begin to reproduce.  • The microorganisms form an attachment to the surface of the object by secreting a slimy, glue-like substance.

  7. Where can biofilms form? Biofilms can form on just about any imaginable surface:  • metals • plastics • natural materials (such as rocks), • medical implants • kitchen counters • contact lenses • the walls of a hot tub or swimming pool Wherever the combination of moisture, nutrients, and a surface exists, biofilms will likely be found as well.

  8. Medical Problems with Biofilms Every year thousands of infections are associated with biofilms forming on artificial joint replacements and other foreign objects entering into the body.

  9. Elbow Revision Surgery

  10. Biofilms Associated with Foreign Materials Case Study Series 12 Gastric Bypass patients– Biofilms Associated with Sutures and Mesh

  11. Load bearing non-dissolvable braided suture Mesh Closing after Gastric Bypass Dissolvable sutures Skin Subcutaneous fat Abdominal muscles

  12. When surgical pins are removed from a patient they can be analyzed to reveal biofilm formations

  13. Infected Brain Shunt:Under an electron microscope biofilm formation is visable.

  14. What are some positive uses of biofilms? • Bioremediation: • Any process that uses microorganisms or their enzymes to return the environment altered by contaminants to its original condition.

  15. Alaskan Oil Spill after the Exxon Valdez Crash in 1989

  16. Advantages of Bioremediation: Works in difficult locations that cannot be reached by other techniques. • Gasoline leaking out of tanks into the ground water • Inject the bacteria into the site and provide an oxygen producing compound. • Cheaper and easier than excavation and pumping/treatment of the contaminated water.

  17. How does Bioremediation Work? • Bacteria are already present in the soil or aquifer, and bioremediation takes place naturally. • In some cases, the rate of bioremediation is too slow to effectively clean up a plume of contaminated water before it gets to a spring, well, lake, or stream. • The rate of bioremediation can be enhanced by adding fertilizer to make the bacteria grow more rapidly. BIOREMEDIATION SUCCESS STORIES

  18. What types of contaminants can be cleaned through bioremediation? • Oil spills • The bacteria are treated with fertilizers to increase the breakdown of the oil contaminants. • Chlorinated Pesticides LINKS TO BIOREMEDIATION

  19. The Monongahela River Spill: About a million gallons of oil accidentally spilled into the Monongahela River in Western Pennsylvania when an above-ground oil storage tank collapsed January 2, 1988. In a matter of seconds, a 30 foot wave of heavy oil surged over containment barriers and spilled into the river, threatening the water supplies of more than a million people living downriver. Swift action was necessary to safeguard these water supplies. Thousands of feet of booms were used to contain the oil as workers pumped it into barges and tanker trucks. Even with this massive cleanup effort, eight water suppliers in three states were forced to shut their intake for a few days. LIST OF OIL SPILLS WORLDWIDE

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