A new era in microbiology: back to Pasteur's times!

The history of microbiology contains several eras with different targets. I will refer them in this way (based on my over 30 years experience as microbiologist and teacher of microbiology and biochemistry):

In the beginning, cultivation and observation of microorganisms was the main target. Doctors like Pasteur and Koch were very innovative and developed intelligent culture medias and vessels to perform very delicate experiments. The everlasting fight against pathogenic microbes was the primary target but Louis Pasteur started to help eg. wine producers to solve their quality problems, caused by microbes.

The combination of microbiology and biochemistry on the second era was very satisfying by solving questions concerning the huge amount of anabolic and catabolic processes included in microbial growth. More and more were also learned in the area of microbial ecology. Questions like "who? what? when? where? how? why?" were partially solved (ref. MADSEN,E.L. 2008. Environmental Microbiology. From Genomes to biochemistry. Blackwell Publishing).

"Third era" can be described by the novel methods to identify bacteria. Biochemical test kits (API etc.) were replaced by Fatty Acide Methylated Ester method (FAME) by Hewlett-Packard on 80's. After it, molecular biology methods, based on ribosomal RNA and DNA, helped to construct the development lines of microorganisms.

Today is the time of new era. We know the "family trees" of bacteria but we should now continue with environmental microbiology and microbial ecology to solve questions like "How, why, by whom and in which conditions will the raw materials of paper industry be biodeteriorated?", "How can we prevent these processes by setting the process conditions unsuitable for those biochemical processes?", "Can we prevent the growth of biofilms and slimes in an ecological way?", "How to prevent selectively the growth of toxin producers like Bacillus cereus in paper and board processes?", how to fight against Legionella in paper industry?".

Names are not the most important thing. Most important is, how the bacteria act in different ecological niches of a paper machine. This work has to be done by using simulations of paper processes which is possible by wet end simulators of research units (as an example: VTT in Jyväskylä, Finland) and laboratory/field instruments (like biofilm detectors in the processes or PMEU incubators by Samplion Ltd.).

The role of PMEU is getting more and more important because this method helps to detect microbial growth of different types (biofilms included) in a very short period of time as well as to test simultaneously the effects of alternative biocides in small-scale tests whose growth parameters match with the growth conditions in the real processes.

We are - and we shall - turn back to the era of Pasteur & Koch: the names are already known, and we shall now investigate, what the contaminating microbes are doing in the industrial processes and how to prevent losses of raw material, machine stops and poor quality of the products by simulating growth processes in small-scale tests, performed in the laboratory or in the field, by the machies themselves.

PMEU in PIRA Symposium, 14.-15.10.2009, in Barcelona.

Paper industry applications of PMEU method will be presented in PIRA Symposium, Barcelona, both in an oral presentation of Key Account Manager Juha V. Mentu and in the exhibition, located in the conference hotel:

Paper Chemistry Symposium 2009
13 - 15 October 2009

Paper Chemistry Symposium 2009 is IntertechPira's flagship offering for the paper industry. This two day conference provides a rare opportunity to draw upon key industry speakers expertise in paper chemistry, paper science and best practice examples in the forest products industry.

Benefits of PMEU method in raw material control, HACCP, biocide testing, biofilm detection and activated sludge investigations will be highlighted in this symposium.

Welcome to visit us in Barcelona!

Applications of PMEU method for biofilm research and testing of biocides against biofilm growth

Paper machine biofilms have been studied already several years by microbiologist J.Mentu. Test coupons, made of steel brands used in paper machines, have been installed inside PMEU syringaes and the growth has been observed with UV Epifluorescence Microscopy after a short incubation period (see picture above).

This technique has now been modified for ordinary light microscopes, too. Steel coupons have been replaced by specified glass slides and the Gram-stained biofilms can be observed with Bright Field Microscopy - no expensive epifluorescence microscopes are needed in this application.

This method will detect all biofilm-producing microbes and testing of biofilm-preventing biocides is also possible simultaneously. Primary attachers typically appear on the slides in just hours and mature biofilms are available in 12...24 hours. This application is very suitable for all areas of industry where the hygiene of surfaces is important. It can also be applied in every environmental research projects where the formation of biofilms in natural water environments is the subject of the study. Hygiene control of public swimming pools etc. also benefit of this method.

PMEU applications for paper industry microbiology.

Paper industry microbiology is one of the several sectors of microbiology which can have significant benefits when applying PMEU methods for rapid hygiene control and HACCP procedures.

A paper mill consists of several technical parts which all act as growth environments (niches) for microbes. Paper machine itself is like a continuous flow fermentor, securing constant nutrient supply, growth environment and feedback for microbes. All regions of the system have their own microbial populations which cause risks for the processes, machinery, employees and product hygiene. Portable Microbiological Enrichment Unit (PMEU) by SAMPLION Oy (Siilinjärvi, Finland) has been modified to an analytical tool for paper industry microbiology, intended in estimation of microbial activities in process waters and simultaneous evaluation of alternative paper machine biocides. ATP Assay was combined with PMEU incubations to give quantitative values of living biomass during tests. PMEU can be used for the detection of harmful bacteria in raw materials and processes as well as on the control of biofilm-forming microbes when epifluorescence microscopy for the observations of biofilm growth on test plates is available. PMEU method helps to avoid bias, caused by the selecting and recovering effects of traditional colony count methods. Because of the robustness of  PMEU incubator, it does not necessarily need any specified microbiological laboratory but acts also as a stand alone cultivation system in common paper mill laboratories research institutes as their additional microbiological tool.

PORTABLE MICROBIOLOGICAL ENRICHMENT UNIT (PMEU)