Micro march03 cover - SfAM

The magazine of the Society for Applied Microbiology ■ March 2003 ■ Vol 4 No 1

PPllaayyiinngg GGoodd??American Scientist Craig Venter is trying tocreate a synthetic life form. The award of a $3million research grant suggests we should takehis work seriously.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:■ 2003 Summer Conference

■ When bugs strike back

■ Is Sciatica an infection?

■ 2002 AGM Minutes

■ Citation analysis: friend or foe?

■ Lab on a Chip: January meeting report

■ Caption competition: Win a bottle of Bubbly!

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www.sfam.org.uk 03March 2003

The magazine of the Society for Applied Microbiology ■ March 2003 ■ Vol 4 No 1

Publisher: Society forApplied Microbiology. Contact: Lynne Boshier,Office and Events ManagerTelephone: 01234 326661Facsimile: 01234 326678

Editor: Anthony [email protected] Assistant:Anouche [email protected]

Contributions: These arealways welcome and shouldbe addressed to the Editorat: [email protected]

Advertising:Contact: Lynne Boshier,Office and Events ManagerTelephone: 01234 [email protected]

Art and Design & layout:Pollard Creativity

Production and printing:Pollard Creativity. All technical questions shouldbe addressed to:[email protected]: 01933 665617

© Society for AppliedMicrobiology 2003Material published inMicrobiologist may not bereproduced, stored in aretrieval system, ortransmitted in any formwithout the prior permissionof the Society.

Society for AppliedMicrobiology, The BloreTower, The Harpur Centre,Bedford MK40 1TQ, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1234 326661Fax: +44 (0)1234 326678email: [email protected]

MicrobiologistVol 4 No.1March 2003

REGULARS FEATURESMEETINGS

04EditorialAnthony Hiltonboldly goes whereno microbiologisthas gone before...

05 ContactFull contactinformation

06MailboxYour letters

07 Micro breakTest your knowlegeof biochemicalreactions

08President’s columnPeter Silley paystribute to Dr BettyHobbs

10 MembershipMatters

13 AGM 2002

17 External Affairs

42 Students into Work

44President’s Fund Reports

47 Books

49Join sfam!

40When bugs strike backCould sciatica becaused by aninfectious agent?

COVER STORY

20 Summer Conference 2003Full programme andbooking form

25 Water SafetyMeeting in Berlin, 28 - 30 April 2003

48Management& control ofMicroorganisms

IBBS & IBRG jointmeeting

14 Captioncompetition!

15 President’s DinnerHighlights of PeterSilley's address

Cover Art: “Playing God” - based onMichelangelo Buonarroti’s “Creationof Adam” in the Sistine Chapel

MICROBIOLOGYof ENGINEEREDENVIRONMENTS14 - 17 July 2003University of Surrey, UK

26

30 Citation analysisfriend or foe?

32 JanuaryMeeting Report

“Lab on a Chip -diagnosis and onsitetesting

39 Is Sciaticaan infection?

Sponsored LectureReport

BSI UpdateWe apologise for theabsence of the BSIUpdate which will nowappear in the June issue

www.sfam.org.uk04 March 2003

MicrobiologistVol 4 No.1March 2003

Contact the Editor:[email protected]

Microbiologist copyDates: contributors pleasenote that the final copydates in 2003 will be:

Vol 4 No.2 June Friday 14 March 2003

Vol 4 No.3 SeptemberFriday 4 July 2003

Vol 4 No.4 December Friday 12 September 2003

Vol 5 No.1 March Friday 12 December 2003

How to submit material Please submit all articles,reports, meetingsnotifications, letters etc., asplain text (*.txt) or rich textfiles (*.rtf). Please submitall images as originalphotographic prints ortransparencies rather thanscanned images and thesewill be processed by us andreturned to you promptly.If your images are only indigital format please makesure they are supplied at aresolution of 300dpi (dotsor pixels per inch at a sizeof not less than 100mm (4inches) square.

Advertisers: if you wish toadvertise in Microbiologistyou should contact theSociety Office in the firstinstance. Guidelines onhow to submit advertise-ments are given on thewebsite and are alsoobtainable by emailing theeditor at:[email protected]

Website: the societywebsite is a timely sourceof up-to-date informationon all Society matters andmaintains a comprehensivearchive of articles andreports on a variety ofmicrobiological topics.

www.sfam.org.uk

ROUND THIS TIMEundergraduate microbiologystudents across the UK will beundertaking a major laboratory-

based project as part of their honoursdegree programme. For many this will bethe first time that they will have engagedin research where the answers they seekare not already known. In laboratoryclasses where the end point is pre-determined the final interpretation of thedata normally involves little more thandeciding if the experiment has 'worked' ornot and more often it’s the latter! But innovel research it is much more importantto try to explain what has happened ratherthan whether the results fulfil ourexpectations. If we observe colonies onincubated media as expected then all iswell and good, but if we obtain ananomalous result is it a consequence ofcontamination, poor technique, or havewe stumbled upon a fascinating insightinto a new aetiological agent? One needonly consider the 'discovery' of penicillinby Fleming or more recently theelucidation of the role of Helicobacterpylori in gastric disease to see that anexperiment may well have ‘worked’despite our eagerness to dismiss anunexpected result as erroneous. Maybemany more of the diseases currentlywithout a known causative agent arewaiting for someone to ask the question:“Is that a contaminant, or just maybe..?”In this issue Alexandra Perry asks ifPropionibacterium acnes could be tosciatica what Helicobacter pylori is togastric ulcers? This theme is developedfurther in a sfam sponsored meetingreport by Peter Lambert on page 39.

Star Trek

This year’s January conference was on thetopic of ‘Lab on a Chip - diagnosis andonsite testing’. For me, interesting as themicrobiology was, the miniaturisation ofdevices achievable by the use of nano-scale engineering and the electronics

involved was fascinating. At the endof the day, my mind filled with

microarrays and nanochips, Iretired to my room to prepare

for the conference dinnerand turned on the

television for company.I’m not normally what

you would consider a‘Trekkie’ but while scanning

the channels I was drawn by Dr. BeverlyCrusher instantly healing ‘plasma burns’with a ‘dermal regenerator’ (purely forthe science you understand!) This startedme thinking about just how far away wemight be from reproducing the infamous‘Tricorder’ wielded by Dr. McCoy and towhat extent fictional technology has beenthe inspiration for real-life scientists? Atdinner opinion was divided as to whoinfluenced whom, however all were inagreement that having learned more ofthe capabilities of DNA chips it certainlyseemed less of a leap of imagination topredict Tricorder-like devices being usedin a range of applications. On the otherhand a food microbiologist commentedthat when he talked about Salmonella ona chip that was exactly what he meant -beam me up Scotty! See page 32 for a fullreport on this meeting.

Editorial

Anthony Hilton chews over a few bugs and boldly goes where nomicrobiologist has gone before...

A

Introducing Anouche

Anouche Newman, a postgraduateresearch student at Aston BusinessSchool, has been working as editorialassistant on Microbiologist since October2002. Anouche has previously worked onthe production of magazines during hertime with the Alumni Relations Office atthe University, so is not unfamiliar withthe responsibilities of assisting an editor.

“Before I started working with Anthonyon Microbiologist I knew absolutelynothing about microbiology or anythingto do with the sciences. In fact I couldn’tbe further away from the topic as mycurrent research is looking at relationshipmarketing in business-to-businessexchanges - a far cry from the world ofmicrobiology! I have found the work ofthe Society really very interesting andlearn something new every week!”


Contact point

Sfam CommitteeInterest Groups

Hon Meetings Secretary:

Mrs Margaret Harrison, Oxoid Ltd, Wade Road, Basingstoke RG24 8PWTel: +44 (0)1256 694313Fax: +44 (0)1256 463388

[email protected]

Bioengineering GroupConvenor: Dr AnthonyChamberlainSchool of Biomedical and LifeSciences, University of Surrey,Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XHTel: +44 (0)1483 879718Fax: +44 (0)1483 300374

[email protected]

Educational DevelopmentGroupConvenor: Dr Ron BishopSchool of Applied Biological andChemical Sciences, University ofUlster, Newtownabbey, CountyAntrim BT37 0QBTel: +44 (0)2890 366266Fax: +44 (0)2890 366207

[email protected]

Environmental GroupConvenor: Dr Keith JonesDepartment of Biological Sciences,University of Lancaster, Lancaster LA1 4YQTel: +44 (0)1524 593993Fax: +44 (0)1524 843854

[email protected]

Food Safety andTechnology GroupConvenor: Dr Andy DaviesH J Heinz, Kitt Green, WiganLancashire WN5 0JLTel: +44 (0)1942 624085Fax: +44 (0)1942 624157

[email protected]

Infection, Prevention andTreatment GroupConvenor: Dr Susannah WalshSchool of Pharmacy & PharmaceuticalScience, Hawthorne Building,DeMontfort University, The Gateway,Leicester, LE1 9BH

[email protected]

Molecular Biology GroupConvenor: Dr John CooteDivision of Infection and Immunity,University of Glasgow, Joseph BlackBuilding, Glasgow G12 8QQTel: +44 (0)141 330 5845Fax: +44 (0)141 330 4600

[email protected]

COMMITTEE MEMBERS 2002 - 2003

HON PRESIDENT: Dr Peter SilleyDon Whitley Scientific Limited, 14 Otley Road, Shipley, West Yorks BD17 7SE

[email protected]

HON GENERAL SECRETARY: Dr Margaret PattersonAgriculture and Food Science Centre, Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5PX

[email protected]

HON MEETINGS SECRETARY: Mrs Margaret HarrisonOxoid Limited, Wade Road, Basingstoke RG24 8PW

[email protected]

HON TREASURER: Dr Geraldine SchofieldUnilever Research Colworth, Bedford MK44 1LQ

[email protected]

HON EDITOR: Journal of Applied MicrobiologyMr Alan Godfree, United Utilities Water Lingley Mere Business Park, Great Sankey, Warrington WA5 3LP

[email protected]

HON EDITOR: Letters in Applied MicrobiologyProf. Colin Harwood, School of Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Medical School, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH

[email protected]

HON EDITOR: MicrobiologistDr Anthony Hilton, University of Aston, Birmingham B4 7ET.

[email protected]

ORDINARY COMMITTEE MEMBERS until July 2003

Dr Martin Adams, School of Biological Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH [email protected]

Dr Jean-Yves Maillard, School of Pharmacy & Biomolecular Sciences,University of Brighton, Cockcroft Building, Moulsecoomb, Brighton BN2 4GJ

[email protected]

Mr John Waddell, Glasgow Scientific Services, Colston Laboratory, Glasgow G21 1XG [email protected]

ORDINARY COMMITTEE MEMBERS until July 2004

Dr Hilary Dodson, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, West Yorkshire

[email protected]

Dr Valerie Edwards-Jones, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M1 5GD

[email protected]

Prof. Peter Gilbert, Department of Pharmacy, University of Manchester,Manchester M13 9PL [email protected]

Dr Peter Green, NCIMB Ltd., 23 St Machar Drive, Aberdeen AB2 1RY [email protected]

SOCIETY OFFICE STAFF

OFFICE and EVENTS MANAGER: Ms Lynne Boshier [email protected]

MEMBERSHIP CO-ORDINATOR: Mrs Julie Wright [email protected]

Society for Applied Microbiology, The Blore Tower, The Harpur Centre, BedfordMK40 1TQ, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1234 326661 Fax: +44 (0)1234 326678

[email protected]. www.sfam.org.uk


Mailbox

I have received many expressions ofencouragement and support over thepast few months for the new lookMicrobiologist. On behalf of everyoneinvolved in the production of themagazine I’d like to thank everyone fortheir comments. It’s nice to know ourefforts are not going unnoticed.

Anthony Hilton (Hon Editor)

Capital CultureFROM: Paul Loughnane[School of Biological SciencesUniversity of Liverpool]SUBJECT: The Lost Art of Bacteriology

Following on from the article “The LostArt of Bacteriology” in the Decemberissue of the Microbiologist, I thought Iwould send you some pictures of bacterialart we have created at the School ofBiological Sciences at the University ofLiverpool. We have been running a“Create a culture competition”. This is acontribution to Liverpool’s bid to becomethe European Capital of Culture in 2008.

Hawaiian sculptureFROM: Keith Jones[Department of Biological SciencesLancaster University]SUBJECT: The Lost Art of Bacteriology

The recent article on The Lost Art ofMicrobiology struck a chord. When I wasteaching in the Department ofMicrobiology at the University of Hawaiiat Manoa in Honolulu in 1986 I took partin the annual microbiology artcompetition. I did a sculpture usingautoclaved plastic Petri dishes, but mostpeople did some sort of bacterial art onagar as described in the article by Adamsand Hendry. The competition was judgedby members of the University ArtDepartment.

Greedy Reader FROM: Karen Stanley[Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen,Scotland. [email protected]]SUBJECT: Book Reviews

I Just got my copy of Microbiologist - thenew look is good. I would be keento do some book reviews. I'm justrevisiting the biofilm literature againat the moment so in particular I wouldlike to do the biofilm books. Iknow it sounds greedy to do two but“Biofilms: the good the bad and the Ugly”and “Biofilm Community Interactions:chance or necessity?” Both come from thesame meeting series, i.e., the Biofilmclub's meeting held at Greynog Hall. Havethey been bagged yet?

CongratulationsFROM: Rod Herbert[[email protected]]SUBJECT: Microbiologist

Just a quick email to congratulate you onthe format of the newly titledMicrobiologist. It is a great improvementboth in impact and content over it'spredecessor sfam News. This firmly putsthe Society into the 21st century. I lookforward in anticipation to receivingthe next number.

Brilliant!FROM: David Wareing[[email protected]]SUBJECT: Microbiologist

Congratulations on the new lookMicrobiologist. It is excellent. I hope thework is not getting on top of you, I knowhow demanding it is. Anyway I would liketo help by reviewing a couple of books.

write to: [email protected]


Micro Break

A £30 book token is waiting for the person whose entry is drawn from the editor’s lab-coat pocket first! The closing date for entries is Friday 25 April 2003. The answers willappear in the next issue of the Microbiologist.

Name:

Address:

Simply photocopy this page and send it to: ‘Biochemical Challenge’, Society for Applied Microbiology, The Blore Tower, The Harpur Centre, Bedford MK40 1TQ, UK.Remember, you could win a £30 Book Token!

Escherichia coli O26

Salmonella typhi

Shigella flexneri 6

Shigella flexneri (1-5)

Salmonella paratyphi A

Plesiomonas shigelloides

Proteus mirabilis

Klebsiella oxytoca

Shigella boydii

Yersinia enterocolitica (biovar 1)

Shigella dysenteriae 1

Providencia rettgeri

Salmonella subgenus III (formerly S.arizonae)

Hafnia alvae

Citrobacter freundii

Escherichia coli

Salmonella sp. (most serotypes)

Shigella dysenteriae (serotypes 3-12)

Klebsiella aerogenes

Shigella sonnei

Morganella morganii

Shigella dysenteriae (serotype 2 -Schmitz’sbacillus)

Salmonella pullorum

Enterobacter aerogenes

Providencia stuartii

Thank you to all entrants of the micro-break December crossword challenge. Thewinning entry was submitted by KevinCharman from Oxfordshire. Well done toyou, your £30 book token is in the post.This time, we have a completely differentkind of quiz where you are required torecall your biochemical reactions to identifythe microorganism. The biochemicalreactions detailed in the table can be usedto speciate the 25 Gram-negative,nitrate-positive bacilli that can beisolated from faeces. Just so that thequiz is not too simple for you expertmicrobiologists we have included a few

Answers to the December Crossword

nasty ones to blow you off the scent!Remember, not all reactions areguaranteed at 100% so there are a fewexceptions to the norm. For example,organism A corresponds to bacteriumnumber 1; Escherichia coli O26. Thisserotype can be urea positive while themajority of E. coli are urea negative! Allcorrect entries received in the Society officeby 25 April will again be stuffed into theeditors lab-coat pocket and the winningentry drawn by an independent referee.Answers will appear in the June issue ofMicrobiologist. A £30 book token is upfor grabs - so get puzzling!

List of Gram-negative bacteria


the President’s Column

Dr Peter Silley pays tribute to Dr Betty Hobbs and explores theoften forgotten work hidden in old journals

We would like to warmlywelcome the followingnew members and hopethat you will participatefully in the activities of theSociety.

Brazil

Mr C A Crispim

Eire

Ms T Catarame

Germany

Mr J M Mathara

The Netherlands

Mr K Roest

Nigeria

Mr V Nweze

Sudan

Mr A M Osman

United Kingdom

Mr K M Aljarallah; MrBahrami; Miss S Barclay: Mrs JM Barnett; Miss L Brevik; Mr TCalvert; Mr C C Clarke; Mr DDertzakis; Dr A R Eley; Miss TGallagher; Miss R Guppy; Dr AHorsburgh; Miss G K Hughes;Mr C Ibenegbu; Miss J MInman; Miss C Iversen; Miss SM James; Mr V S Jayamanne;Dr P A Lambert; Miss ILazaraki; Mr S Maktabi; Mr AMiah; Mr D M Pearce; Mr M JPogson; Miss S J Rhead; Mr GM Robinson; Miss J Rollason;Mr S More; Miss C F Smith;Miss V Stergiou; Miss K VTyldesley; Ms C Van Ijperen;Mr P-A Wasu; Mr P Wheat;Miss M Zhang

U S A

Ms A Lekhwani; Mr C Steinel

UK Corporate

Dynal Biotech

Rohasys (UK) Ltd

I WAS SADDENEDto hear of the deathof Dr Betty Hobbs. Afitting tribute hasbeen paid By Jim

McLauchlin on page 12 of this issue, yet Icannot refrain from reproducing part of apaper from Dr Hobbs which waspublished in 1950 in Volume 30 of theProceedings of the Society for AppliedBacteriology (the former name of sfam). Iam privileged to have almost a full set ofSociety Journals beginning from 1950 (ifanyone knows of the whereabouts of anyjournals prior to this date I would bepleased to give them a good home!) Whenopportunities arise and I find myself withsome “free” time I will pick out one of theold journals and begin to browse. I guessone of the disadvantages of the electronicage is that browsing in this way will nolonger be quite so easy which will be sucha pity as there is some fascinating andoften forgotten work hidden within thoseold journal covers. As an example castyour eye over extracts from this paperfrom Dr Hobbs, entitled “The Hygiene ofthe Preparation and Service of Food.”

“Four factors are necessary for theoccurrence of food-borne infection, theinfecting organism, a reservoir ornormal habitat where it can live andmultiply, a vehicle or channel forspread - such as water, milk or otherfoodstuff - and susceptibility of thegroup of people exposed. Frequentlythere is what almost might be namedas a fifth factor - the hands of the foodhandler conveying the organism fromreservoir to vehicle.

To control these infections andinterrupt the cycle of events thecommunications must be cut at somepoint. The function of hygiene is to seekout the weak links in the chain, tobreak them, and thus to block thespread of infection. Its successfulapplication depends on knowledgegained not only at the laboratory benchbut also from experience of epidemicsin the field, of the types and habits ofthe infecting organisms.

During the last 50 years or so therehave been vast improvements in thehygiene of milk and water supplies, insewage disposal and fly extermination,

so that the incidence of intestinalinfections such as typhoid fever andinfantile enteritis has declined sharplywhile cholera has disappearedcompletely from this country. Yet in oneof the most important spheres of life,that of food production, preparationand service, there remain faults inhygiene which result year by year in asteady and ever-increasing number offood-poisoning outbreaks. The figureshave risen from 83 in 1939 to 964 in1948 and 2,431 in 1949.

There are two predominant reasonsfor this rise. First, the increase incommunal feeding carried out oftenwith acute shortage of space, staff andequipment. Investigations into thecause of outbreaks affecting school andfactory canteens have revealed errorsin the hygiene of handling foodprepared in bulk which have adverselyaffected large numbers of people butwhich may well have been overlookedin households where one or twomembers only of a family might suffer.

Second, improved diagnosis as aresult of increased laboratory facilitiesand finer bacteriological methods,together with more activity infieldwork have led to a more preciseappreciation of the situation. Otherfactors, such as shortage of food andconsequent reluctance to discardleftover portions, and the increasedconsumption of made-up meatstuffs,have also contributed to the rise inincidence.

NewMembers


Membership matters

The oviduct of ducks may beinfected by S. typhimurium and lead totrue infection of their eggs. There maybe two, three or more outbreaks eachyear from this cause; the figure is lowwhen it is considered that there areapproximately 2 million ducks in thecountry. As a safety measure theMinistry of Health have ruled that duckeggs should be boiled for 10 mins.

Spray-dried egg powder maycontain a variety of Salmonellaorganisms believed to have originatedfrom infected hen faeces adhering tothe shells. Lightly scrambled dried eggor lightly cooked omelettes made fromdried egg may cause food-poisoning,particularly if the reconstituted egghas been allowed to remain for a fewhours or more at room temperature,thus permitting the organisms tomultiply.

After describing briefly our existingknowledge about food-borne infectionsit is natural to point out where hygienecan break the links of the chain orblock the channels of spread ofinfection from reservoir to susceptiblehost. The first of the links is the handsof the food-handler which must be keptscrupulously clean.

Particular care should be takenbefore handling cold foods notreceiving further heat-treatment. Ininstances where, in spite of treatment,a person is found to be a persistenthand carrier of an enterotoxin-producing strain of Staphylococcus,precautions should be taken to preventhim or her handling susceptible foods.The second link is the storage of food.The temperature at which food is keptis a vital factor in the causation offood-poisoning and the importance ofrefrigeration, particularly in the

summer, cannot be stressed too highly.Large volumes of stews and gravieswhich cannot be cooled rapidly areparticularly dangerous and should bebroken down from bulk into smallerquantities to assist cooling unlessspecial cooling apparatus is supplied.

There is much competition amongindustrial concerns in the productionof efficient detergent substances andindeed there are many excellentpreparations on the market which areuseful in practice. These include bothinorganic and organic substances aswell as mixtures of the two.Unfortunately there are as yet noreally satisfactory laboratory tests forability to cleanse. Promising work onbactericidal substances as aids towashing-up procedures have beencarried out by a few manufacturers.

There are probably many knownand unknown weak links in the chainof infection from the reservoir throughthe vehicle to the victim, butscrupulous attention to the twoimportant factors of clean hands andrefrigeration would do much toeliminate the hazards of foodpoisoning.”

Clearly HACCP was alive and well andSalmonella and eggs were already anissue, yet there were no real tests todetermine efficacy of cleaning. It ispleasing to know that we have madeprogression since those times but let usnot ignore the tremendous work of thosewho have gone before us and which ispublished within our Society Journals andthose of other learned societies.

Peter SilleyPeter Silley is the Hon President of theSociety and Research Director of DonWhitley Scientific Limited

There is a tribute to Dr Betty Hobbs by Dr JimMcLauchlin on page 12

Could you be the nextwinner of the ‘sfamSponsor of the Year’Award?

If you feel you could be ournext winner for 2003, andwould like some promotionalmaterial to help you recruit newmembers please contact Julie Wright, Membership Co-ordinator on 01234 326661 oremail [email protected].

Sponsor a newMember andwin a £50Book Token!

Sponsor of theYear 2002We are delighted to announce thewinner of the sfam Sponsor of theYear award as our very own editor ofMicrobiologist, Anthony Hilton.

Anthony beat off stiffcompetition in a raceto the wire to emergeas having recruited themost new members tothe Society in the

2002-2003 period. When informed ofthe award Anthony was surprised tohave won and reluctantly accepted the£50 book token saying he would pass iton to his wife as a gift! Congratulationsand thank you on behalf of the Societyfor your recruitment efforts.The recruitment competition has provedvery successful over the past two yearsand so we are again wiping the slateclean, offering another £50 prize andinviting members to get recruiting.Could you be our next winner?

www.sfam.org.ukMarch 200310

Honorary membershipThe Society isdelighted to conferhonorary lifetimemembership onProfessor ArthurGilmore, HonoraryPresident of theSociety 1999 -

2002, in recognition of his services tothe Society.

HE INTERNATIONAL UNIONof MICROBIOLOGICALSOCIETIES (IUMS) comprisesthree Divisions; Virology,

Mycology and Bacteriology & AppliedMicrobiology. Every three years theDivisions organise an internationalcongress, often in conjunction with oneor both of the other two Divisions. Acombined International Congress at whichall three Divisions were represented tookplace in Paris, 27 July - 1 August 2002. Inaddition to a large scientific programme,there was a trade exhibition at which theSociety had a stand, as did BlackwellPublishing. There were nearly 4000delegates to the congress.

Margaret Patterson and Alan Godfreerepresented the Society and manned thestand during the four days of theexhibition. It was a great pleasure to meetSociety members from the UK andelsewhere as well as a number of theEditorial Board of the journals.

T

Margaret Patterson & Alan GodfreeMargaret Patterson is the Hon. Gen. Secretaryof the Society and Alan Godfree is the HonEditor of The Journal of Applied Microbiology

For more information about IUMS visit:http://www.iums.org

Sfam visits IUMS in Paris

There was a lot of interest in theSociety, in particular the range of grantsand awards available to members. Societypens, mouse mats and coasters were verypopular and quickly disappeared from thedisplay! Many visitors enquired about theSociety's journals and prospective authorswere interested in submitting papers toeither Letters in Applied Microbiology orthe Journal of Applied Microbiology,attracted by the lack of page charges andforthcoming online submission.

The Society is a member of IUMS andeligible to attend the General Assemblyand vote on resolutions which we dulydid. The next IUMS Congress will be inSan Francisco during July 2005.

In light of current worldwideconcerns regarding weapons of massdestruction Committee discussed theintroduction of an ethics statement towhich we would ask all members tosubscribe. During the discussions werealised the difficulty in finding anappropriate form of words toadequately address the subject. Itinitially seemed a rather straightforward

We welcome member’s comments asto the suitability of this statement.

matter but of course it soon becomesclear that it will be necessary tocontinue to work with organisms ofconcern in order to prepare defensivestrategies to their potential use asorganisms of mass destruction. We arecurrently looking to introduce thefollowing statement which will, in thefuture, appear on new membershipapplication and renewal forms.

“The Society requires eachmember to behave in such a way asto bring credit to the profession ofmicrobiology and not to knowinglyengage in work directed towardsthe production, promotion, sale ortransfer of biological weapons.”

SfAM Statement on Biological Warfare

Do you know a young microbiologist(under 40 years of age) who has made asubstantial contribution tomicrobiology? If so, why not nominatethem for this prestigious and substantialaward which is worth £2,000? Theaward was instituted in 1984 by Oxoidto commemorate the life and works ofthe late W H (Bill) pierce, former chiefbacteriologist at Oxoid Ltd and a long-time member of the Society. The prize ispresented annually at the summerconference. Members wishing to makea nomination for the 2003 prize shouldwrite in confidence to the Hon GeneralSecretary, Margaret Patterson, at theSociety Office in Bedford, including afull cv of the person nominated and aletter of support. Please note there areno official forms for this award.

Closing date for nominations is 30th April 2003.


Membership matters

Election of NewMembers

The following have joinedthe Society during theperiod from1 June 2001 to31 May 2002 (*denotes FullStudent Member; **denotesAssociate Student Member):

Abdelaziz AA (Egypy); Abulreesh HH*(Hull); Alboraie S* (Manchester); AllenV (Bristol); Alzwei A* (Glasgow);Amisu KO* (Nigeria); Avery LM(Wales); Bardowski JL (Poland);Barrigas ML* (Staffordshire);Baumann F (Germany); Bjorland J(Norway); Boziaris I (Greece);Brenneman K** (USA); Buckley R(Lincs); Caddick JM (West Midlands);Camilleri C* (Malta); Casey PM(Kent); Cenci-Goga BT (Italy);Chatwell N (Salisbury); ChristensenKK (Denmark); Christopher D (Bristol);Codling C** (Cardiff); Coleman DJ(Birmingham); Connerton I(Loughborough); Connor S(Manchester); Corbitt AJ (Wiltshire);Cottell A** (Brighton); Dargan P(India); De-Luca N (Herts); Ebrey RJ*(Exeter); El-Domani RA* (Egypt);English J** (Lancaster); Eyles RF*(New Zealand); Fauque GDJ (France);Feeney CAM* (Derby); Fitzgerald DJ*(Norwich); Fowler EK (Worcester);Gibson SA (Worcester); Girardin H(France); Gleeson D (Ireland);Goodburn K (London); Grant RJ(Ireland); Griffiths H (Middlesex);Haesebrough F (Belgium); Hasan A(Kuwait); Hayes R* (Wolverhampton);Henderberg A (USA); Hickie SJ (Kent);Hill DJ (Wolverhampton); Hill PJ(Leicester); Hussain AL-Diwany LJ(Karak); Huston E (USA); Jones O(Gwynedd); Kagawa S* (Japan);Kearney L (Ireland); Khanna S (India);Khondkar P* (Glasgow); Law K(Scotland); Lawley S* (Staffordshire);Leis A (Germany); Lemar KM*(Cardiff); Lenaerts J* (Exeter); Lewis C(Glasgow); Likotrafiti E* (Berkshire);Livens S (Surrey); Lord DC(Merseyside); Lowe CA (Glasgow);May JP (Wirral); Mayers C (Wiltshire);McCleery DR (Northern Ireland);McCulloch L* (Liverpool); McDermottPJ (Merseyside); McMahon V**(Bedfordshire); McMullan SE* (Co.Antrim); McQueen J (USA);Meiklejohn GR* (Glasgow);Middleton AM (Surrey); Muckian L**(Ireland); Mugg PA (Surrey); Nelson S(Bristol); Ohai C (London); Oliver R*(Portsmouth); O’Malley LP

(Manchester); Parry J (Lancaster);Patel B (Essex); Pearson E (Kent);Pierce KJ* (Edinburgh); Prajapat VD*(London); Prest C* (Cheshire); PrestonS (Aberdeen); Redmond EC (SouthWales); Rees E** (Cardiff); Renaud-Francois (France); Requena R (Brazil);Rix A (Australia); Robinson G*(Bedfordshire); Robinson LS* (York);Rogers AJ** (West Surrey); Sattar SA(Canada); Sekizuka T* (Japan);Seyfried M (Switzerland); Sheldrake I(Basingstoke); Smith Richard(Herfordshire); Smith W* (Newcastleupon Tyne); Spode BP (Worcester);Srivastva D (USA); Stehn B (Sweden);Stephenson G (Newcastle upon Tyne);Tangney M (Scotland);Vassilandonopoulou G (Greece);Wang RY (Luton; Bedfordshire);Watson AP* (Manchester); Weaver L*(Hants); Webb T (Surrey); WhiteheadKA* (Lancashire); Whyte FW*(Manchester); Williams C (Hull);Winkler A (Germany); Zavaleta AI(Peru)

Membership changes 1 June 2001 TO 31 May 2002

TotalsFull Members: 77

Full Student Members: 34

Associate Student Members: 8

Total: 119

Corporate Members

Eli Lilly & Company Ltd

PhPlate Microplate Techniques

Total: 2




The following deaths werenoted with deep regret:

Acaster H W; Cross T; West P A

Total: 3

Resignations

The following have resignedtheir membership:

Abaye DA (1998); Bacon CL (1994);Baldry MGC (1982); Barker M (1989);Baumgart J (1972); Bertrand* N(1998); Beveridge EG (1975); CollinsJE (1995); Crowther JS (1968); CroweML (2000); Davidson CA (1991);Danielsen M (2001); Davies I (1996);Dent CL (1996); Dodman RI (1993);Drasar BS (1987); Fricker EJ (1992); Gentle NS (1991); Gibson LF (1963);Glascock SJ (1996); Gonzalez MI(1999); Gordon* JA (1999); Gow MM(1993); Gravesen A (2001); Halls NA(1969); Inwood CJ (1990); Johnson A(1999); Johnson* HE (1998);Karaioannoglou P (1978); Karnes LP(1973); Kerr AR (1996); Lamlerthon*S (1997); Leistner LEE (1976); Magee

AC (1993); Martin KW (1998); MasonT (2001); Matthews SCW (1987);McDermott PJ (1998); Milohnoja M(1973); Morgan* J (1997); Owen E(1975); Page A (1996); Page SL(2001); Parry OT (1984); Pinegar JA(1975); Purohit KS (1994);Robertshaw AH (1970); Rombouts FM(1987); Roulston H (2000); Shapton D(1955); Shapton NF (1975);Simmering R (1999); Smith RN(1986); Smith QJ (1977); Snell JJS(1977); Spink* P (1999); StanbridgeLH (1991); Stanley G (1975); StewartCS (1971); Stone MR (1985); SundeM (2001); Sutcliffe IC (1999); ThomasJl (1978); Thomas** L (2001); TurnerDG (1972); Uppington** H (2001);Van Schothorst (1977); Warren GC(1969); Warren IC (1978);Whitehouse P (1994); Wilde SJ(1987); Williams AJ (1979); WilliamsRG (1980); Wouters JTM (1988);Yearbury BJ (1989).

The following membershave been written off fornon-payments ofsubscriptions:

Abdel-Khalek A; Ahmad MH;Anderson WA; Beaton Y; Beattie SH;Bellian T; Bell-Perkins L*; Benson D;Bicknell B; Bourke P*; Boyd Y; BrodieE*; Bull S; Callaghan KD; CarmichaelD*; Casci T*; Castle CS; Chan HEW-Y**; Chymera O; Colles F; Collins SB;Dalamitra S*; Dayyani Dardashit A*; Deegan MB;Devi P; Devillard E*; Di Candia M**;Dunsmore BC*; Endacott-Palmer CA;Etoa F-X; Eull A; Ezzi M*; Ferguson CMJ; FernandezAstorga A; Fitzpatrick L; Fleet GH;Fooks LJ*; Forsdyke JD; Foster AG;Foster SJ; Galhotra AP; Gassem M;Gondo T**; Gorman SP; Granger A*;Gregory JE; Griffiths PA; Hallsworth R;Hanmoungjai P*; Hawronskyi J-M;Hegarty JP*; Holmes K*; Horton SJ*;Hoyles L*; Ireland P; JagannathanA**; Jain MK; Jaisli FK; Jaramillo-Rivera H*; Jensen BB; Jepson M;

Jermini MFG; Jones CE; Jones SM*;Kadhum HJ**; Kagawa S**;Kalogeropoulos V; Karayinnis V;Kaspersson AS; Kershaw SJ; KhanMR; Khanna S; Kim D; Koulouris S;Laborda F; Lane E; Law D; Lee A;Leitch I*; Liow EWM*; Lynam B**;Lynch FJ; Masters PJ; Mavinkurve S;McCann C*; McKenna E; Moore LE*;Moore GF*; Mortimer AD; Mullen K;Murano E; Murrin K; Noonan P; NunnFG*; O’Brien A*; Oh H-B; Ojo B*;O’May GA*; Panisello PJ; Payne JF;Paynter MJB; Potter CA; PrendergastDM*; Quennell SI; Quevedoradu FG;Radu S; Rickard AH*; Robinson T;Rooke JK; Rossmoore H; RowlandYM; Ruegg JR; Ruiz-Teran F; RushbyLN; Saadoun I; Schwingel WR; ScottMF; Simmons NA; Sladersmith J;Smith GP; Smith S; Sperber WH;Tatton AC; Taylor PJ; Taylor F;Teferedegne B*; Teo A; Thirlwell JM;Thompson DE; Townend TJ; TurnerNA*; Turner HL**; Tzortzis G*; UptonME; Uvey M; Vidal DR; Vilkhu KS;Vincent S*; Waak E; Wade MG;Walker JT; Webster SD; Wells JM;Welsby S**; Wheat PF; Williams O;Williams K; Williams V; Wood MA;Ziemer C; Zigorraga C.




Total: 149

Call forNominationsfor CommitteeMr John Waddell, Dr Jean-Yves Maillard and Dr MartinAdams are scheduled to retirefrom the Committee byrotation in July 2003.Nominations are invited fromfull members of the Societyfor three new members ofCommittee. Nominationsmust be made in writing andreceived at the Society Officeby 20th May 2003. Shouldnominations exceedvacancies, election will be bya system of postal votingarranged by Committee.


Membership matters

Tribute to Dr Betty HobbsOCTOR B C HOBBS or Bettyas she was more affectionatelyknown to those who workedwith her, completed her PhD

(titled “An examination of variousfactors affecting the reduction ofmethylene blue in milk, and theinfluence of cultural conditions on theyield of metabolites produced bycertain species of fungi”) with SirGraham Wilson at the London School ofHygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1937.She then joined the Emergency PHLS inthe Cardiff Laboratory early in the SecondWorld War and remained in the PHLS forthe rest of her career until retiring in1975. She was Director of the FoodHygiene Laboratory from its inception in1947 until retirement. During her career,Dr Hobbs published prolifically on manyaspects of food microbiology, foodpoisoning and food hygiene and producedmore than 140 papers and articles. Herfirst book “Food Poisoning and FoodHygiene” first published in 1953 remains(after many editions) a standard text.

Dr Hobbs is probably best recognisedfor her pioneering work on establishingClostridium perfringens as a cause offood poisoning. C. perfringens was firstreported as a cause of food poisoning inthe USA in 1945 where nausea anddiarrhoea was reported in three outbreaksafter consumption of chicken which hadbeen cooked the day before consumption(McClung, 1945). The foods were heavilycontaminated with C. perfringens and itwas suggested that a toxin had beenproduced in the foods. However, in 1953a ground breaking paper was publishedby Dr Hobbs and colleagues whichestablished C. perfringens foodpoisoning on a much firmer basis byproviding information on theepidemiology, disease presentation,diagnosis, pathogenesis and control(Hobbs et al., 1953). This papercharacterised a large numbers ofoutbreaks and showed that a highproportion of food poisoning of unknownorigin was due to C. perfringens (thennamed C. welchii). The paper presents avast amount of data showing that almostall outbreaks were caused by meat whichhas been cooked and allowed to coolslowly: the cooking process being unlikelyto kill the organism because of its abilityto produce endospores and consequent

heat resistance. Following consumption ofthe food, colic, diarrhoea but rarelyvomiting occurred after 8-20 hrs whichresolved after about 1 day. There werelarge numbers of C. perfringens in thefood and faeces of patients and since thisbacterium was commonly found in thefaeces of animals, this represented thelikely source of contamination. Humanvolunteer experiments were performed byconsumption of cooked meat broths. Therequirement for consumption of liveorganism to cause disease (and not toxin)was demonstrated by the development ofdiarrhoea only following consumption oflive culture in cooked meat broths. Thedisease was not produced followingconsumption of uninoculated broths orthe filtrate from inoculated broths. It wassubsequently shown that infectionresulted from the production ofenterotoxin in the intestinal tract duringthe sporulation of this bacterium.

Dr Hobbs was highly active in manyother areas of food hygiene. For example,she was a founder member of theInternational Commission onMicrobiological Specifications of Foods, agroup of expert international foodmicrobiologists who first met in 1962 andwhose primary goal was to foster theconcept of microbiologically safe foods ininternational commerce. She was also atireless educator and lecturer, spoke toaudiences of widely differing experiencesuch as Woman’s Institutes andTownswoman’s Guilds through food lawenforcers, academia, and the scientificworld at large, both in the UnitedKingdom and world-wide.

Betty was not only a dedicated

scientist, but also gave her time to othersnot involved in her specific area of work.She was involved with the St John’sAmbulance Association and was a Sisterof Order of St John. She was a committedChristian and worked for the LudhianaFellowship. In the early 1970s when theHospital and Medical College in thePunjab (India) was short of PathologyLaboratory staff she responded and gaveup her holidays each year to spend timeworking in the laboratory. From herretirement in 1975 she spent three to sixmonths of each year working in Ludhiana,unpaid, at the laboratory bench.

C.perfringens food poisoningcontinues to be a significant problemtoday in both the UK and USA, and adviceon the control of this disease remains asit was in given in 1953 by Dr Betty Hobbsand colleagues in their outstanding paperwhich is now 50 years old:

“Outbreaks of this kind should beprevented by cooking meatimmediately before consumption, or ifthis is impossible, by cooling the meatrapidly and keeping it refrigerateduntil it is required for use.”

D

Further reading:

■ Hobbs BC, Smith ME, Oakley CL, WarrackGH, Cruickshank JC. (1953) Clostridiumwelchii food poisoning. J Hyg 51 75-101

■ McClung LS. (1945) Human foodpoisoning due to growth of Clostridiumperfringens (C.welchii) in freshly cookedchicken: preliminary note. J Bact 50 229-31.

Dr Jim McLauchlin, FSML

In Memoriam:Martin J WoodThe Society for Applied Microbiologyextends heartfelt condolences to thefamily of Martin J Wood, President ofthe British Society for AntimicrobialChemotherapy who died suddenly inthe early hours of Sunday 15December 2002. As President andimmediate past Editor-in-Chief of theJournal of AntimicrobialChemotherapy he had made a majorcontribution to the development ofBSAC in recent years.

www.sfam.org.uk March 2003 13

Annual General Meeting 2002

HE 71st ANNUAL GENERALMEETING of the Society forApplied Microbiology was heldon Wednesday 10th July 2002

in the Lecture Theatre on the JubileeCampus of the University of Nottinghamcommencing at 17.45 hours. TheHonorary President, Professor ArthurGilmour was in the Chair and 37members were present.

1. Apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were receivedfrom Mr Les Baillie, Dr Ron Bishop, DrMuriel Rhodes-Roberts, Professor ColinHarwood, Mr John Waddell and MissCharlotte Lindhardt.

2. Minutes of the Annual GeneralMeeting held in July 2001 atSwansea University

Copies of the minutes of the previousmeeting were circulated to those present.The Chairman asked if these were a trueand accurate record of the meeting.There was no dissent and the minuteswere accepted.

3. Matters arising

The Chairman asked the meeting ifthere were any matters arising from thelast AGM minutes - there were none.

4. Report of the Trustees of theSociety for the year 2001

Copies of reports of the Trustees hadbeen and were distributed to all membersattending the meeting. As reported at thelast AGM, full accounts were producedand circulated to members earlier in theyear enabling scrutinisation of accountsand the Annual Report before the AGM.

4(i) Report of the HonoraryPresident

Professor Gilmour reported that therehad been staff changes in the Societyoffice which Dr Margaret Patterson,Honorary General Secretary, woulddiscuss in her report.

Professor Duncan Stewart-Tull whoretired from his post as Editor in Chief asfrom July 2001 had not been replaced.However, the role was taken on byProfessor Colin Harwood for LAM and forJAM, Mr Alan Godfree.

Dr Peter Silley, Honorary VicePresident, had stepped down from hispost as Honorary Treasurer and the roletaken on by Dr Geraldine Schofield.

Dr David Wareing initially took on the

post SfAM News Editor, but sadly, due topersonal reasons, had to resign from thisrole in December 2001. Dr AnthonyHilton kindly agreed to take over as SfAMNews Editor.

Professor Gilmour then reported on avery successful ‘Away Day’ that theSociety had held in January this year todiscuss ‘Strategic Review/Planning’ andthe way forward for the Society. Manynew ideas and initiatives were discussedwhich will hopefully take the Societyforward into 2003. The following keyissues emerged:-

Website development - Dr AnthonyHilton to take forward.

Synergy with other organisations suchas UK Life Sciences.

To implement ‘local’ branches - agreedhowever not to progress.

Audience requirements - Dr Peter Silleyto take forward with a view toestablishing an Advisory Board.

Membership issues - a sub-committeehas been formed and will be run by DrValerie Edwards-Jones, Dr Peter Greenand Mr John Waddell.

Promotion of the Society - a WorkingGroup is to be formed by Dr Jean-YvesMaillard, Dr Hilary Dodson and Dr MartinAdams.

Professor Gilmour said that it would behis last report to the AGM as he was nowto step down as Honorary President. Ithad been an honour to have served asPresident to the Society and had feltprivileged to have served in this capacity.Professor Gilmour then thanked theOfficers, Members and Office Staff for alltheir hard work and enthusiasm.Professor Gilmour asked those presentfor any questions or comments and therewere none.

4(ii) Report by the HonoraryGeneral Secretary

Dr Margaret Patterson, HonoraryGeneral Secretary highlighted points fromthe Trustee report distributed to all thoseattending the AGM. In particular, shereported on the office/staff changes thathad recently taken place. Mrs AlisonDevereux, Office & Events Manager, hadresigned from her post in June to take upa new life in Spain. Ms Lynne Boshier hadbeen appointed as the Office & EventsManager and would be taking up her postat the end of July. Miss Rashina Ganger,full-time Clerical Assistant, had also beenappointed in June. In closing, DrPatterson thanked Mrs Devereux and MsJulie Wright for all their support and hard

work over the past year. Miss LindaCopperwheat, temporary clerical support,who had worked for the Society for threemonths during the period of change wasalso thanked for her support and hardwork. Dr Patterson then asked if therewere any questions or comments andthere were none.

4(iii) Report by the HonoraryTreasurer

Dr Geraldine Schofield highlightedpoints from the Trustee report. DrSchofield reported on the new accountingyear which now runs from January toDecember and because of this, the mostnotable feature of the audited financialstatement of the Society is the extendedperiod of accounts, 1st June 2000 to 31stDecember 2001. The draft budget set forthe extended period was then discussed.She confirmed that the budget performedbetter than was anticipated, mainly due toincreased income from the society’sjournals, lower than expected costs ofEnvironmental Microbiology and tightbudget control of office expenditure. DrSchofield then reported that the Society’sinvestments had recovered after the fall,due to stock market pressures, to lie 1%lower than their market valuation at thistime last year and overall the investmentportfolio had performed well. Inconclusion, the budget is on target for2002 and the Society’s finances ingeneral are healthy. Dr Schofield thenasked those present if there were anyfurther questions and there were none.

4(iv) Report by the HonoraryMeetings Secretary

Mrs Margaret Harrison, HonoraryMeetings Secretary highlighted pointsfrom the report distributed to all thoseattending the AGM. Mrs Harrisonreported that it had been an active yearwith a successful Joint Winter Meeting inWageningen, The Netherlands, that hadan excellent scientific content and aSummer Conference in Swansea 2001.Mrs Harrison then thanked ProfessorDuncan Stewart-Tull, Professor HughPennington and Professor Graham Rookfor their excellent contribution to thedebate ‘A Little Bit of Dirt does you Good’debate held on the opening evening of the2002 Summer Conference at NottinghamUniversity. The Winter Meeting 2003entitled ‘Lab on a Chip’ is to be held atthe Holiday Inn in Birmingham with DrJohn Coote arranging the scientificprogramme for this event.

T


Annual General Meeting 2002

This is a move towards the use ofhotels rather than Universities for futuremeetings. The Summer Conference 2003will be held at the University of Surreyand is in association with the Institute ofCivil Engineers. Dr Tony Chamberlain isthe convenor for this meeting. MrsHarrison also reported that the currentconvenor, Dr Jean-Yves Maillard, for theInfection, Prevention and TreatmentGroup will be replaced by Dr SusannahWalsh. Mrs Harrison asked for anyquestions or comments from thosepresent and there were none.

4(v) Report by the HonoraryEditors

Mr Alan Godfree reported that 60% ofmembers have activated BlackwellSynergy to receive their journals on-line.Mr Godfree reported the he wasconscious of the need of authors formanuscript reviewing and handling timesand Dr Bill Ashraf had been appointed asReviews Editor to cover both JAM & LAM.Electronic submission of articles will golive between September - January. MrGodfree extended his grateful thanks tothe Blackwells Team and all the reviewersfor the journals. Dr Keith Jones raised aquestion concerning the new location ofthe Blackwell’s Office as this was due toclose in the Autumn and possibly move toOxford and asked how this would affectthe current workings of the EditorialOffice.

4(vi) Report by the SfAM NewsEditor

Dr Anthony Hilton reported on theforthcoming new developments to be seenin the SfAM News and websitedevelopment. They are as follows:

The News will have more scientificcontent. The SfAM News Editor willcommission authors to write articles. The

overall appearance of the News will havea ‘facelift’. A 48-page all colour editionwill be launched in the December issue.The News will have a change of name toreflect the new appearance.

The Society website will be developedto incorporate a public access area, anexclusive members’ area, a discussion/chat forum, a job vacancies/job seekerslist, student members section, a list offorthcoming papers that will be appearingin the journals and a facility to collectinformation on members includingupdating members’ special interests. DrStephen McGinness raised the questionconcerning the updating of members’information. Dr Hilton replied that it isanticipated that the website shouldrepresent the major mechanism by whichmembers who were able could updatetheir information. It was, however,recognized that not all members haveready access to the Internet and a postalsupport system would also be available.The new database would be designed tobe compatible with the existinginformation database already used in theoffice.

5. Adoption of Annual Report2001

Professor Gilmour then asked for thesereports to be officially adopted by thosepresent. Mr Fred Skinner proposed andProfessor Max Sussman seconded thisproposal. Professor Gilmour thankedthem both for their contribution.

6. Election of Honorary President

Professor Gilmour reported that thatDr Peter Silley was to now take over therole of Honorary President after havingbeen elected Honorary Vice President lastyear. Professor Gilmour proposed that DrSilley become the next President and thiswas seconded by Dr Bob Park. Professor

Gilmour then congratulated Dr Silley onhis new appointment.

7. Election of two members toCommittee

Dr Margaret Patterson reported thatthis year there were two committeevacancies to fill as Dr David Wareing andMr Les Baillie had retired. Twonominations were received from Societymembers and the membership then votedfor Dr Ian Fevers (nominated byProfessor Colin Harwood) and Dr JulieEastgate (nominated by Dr S Cave). DrPatterson proposed that these be electedonto Committee and this was seconded byProfessor Max Sussman. Dr Pattersonwelcomed them both onto committee.

8. Election of new/reinstatedMembers

Full details of Membership changesfrom 1 June 2001 to 31 May 2002 can befound on page 11.

9. Deaths & Resignations

Dr Margaret Patterson, HonoraryGeneral Secretary, highlighted the mainpoints from the report prepared by theMembership Co-ordinator which wasdistributed to all members present.

10. Any other Business

Dr Fred Skinner, Custodian Trustee ofthe Society, thanked all on committee, theofficers and staff for all their continuedhard work over the past year andproposed a formal vote of thanks fromthe floor, this was seconded by ProfessorMax Sussman.The meeting closed at 18.30 hours.

Date of next meeting:Wednesday 16 July 2003 at the University ofSurrey, Guildford, UK

Those of you who attended the President’s Dinner In November 2002may remember seeing the Editor of Microbiologist, Anthony Hiltondoing some very strange things with a napkin. Now you have thechance to come up with a suitable caption in 10 words or less toaccompany the photograph of this amazing feat! The memberwho submits the most amusing and original caption will receive aBOTTLE OF CHAMPAGNE!To apply, send your suggestion by email to:[email protected] or pop it in an envelope marked “NapkinCompetition” and post it to the Society Office.

Closing date for entries: Friday 25th April 2003

Caption competition


The President’s Dinner 2002

HE PRESIDENT’S DINNER is arather informal occasion whenwe have the opportunity to saythank you to all those people

who have supported the Society over thelast year, this year is no exception. TheSociety has clearly been changing overrecent years and for that we owe thanks tomy recent predecessors. What is clear isthat change must continue if we are tostay relevant; we cannot afford to just sitstill, we must move forward. Committeehave decided that a major focus of activityover the coming years is to raise our profilewithin the public debate on science policyin the UK. As a Society we have respondedto the DoH “Getting Ahead of the Curve”report which advocated the formation ofthe Health Protection Agency but ourcontribution to this and other debatesmust be informed. It is only throughongoing contact with bodies such as PHLSthat we will be so informed. As a Society Ido not believe we have worked hardenough to foster links with the decisionmakers affecting the future ofmicrobiology. To this end I am hoping thatCommittee will endorse the setting up ofan Advisory Board to the Society which willin some way begin the process ofdeveloping those necessary links.

The year so far has been nothing shortof interesting. I have attended receptionsat the House of Commons and the Houseof Lords and a dinner at the House ofLords as part of the ongoing collaborationwith IoB and the Royal PharmaceuticalSociety in considering a response to thechallenges of antimicrobial resistance. Thissubject was explored in a feature article inthe last issue of Microbiologist entitled“Pharmageddon Now” and was a followup to a meeting in July 2002 in which theSociety was a principal sponsor; “Anti-Infectives: The way forward.” From thatmeeting it was identified that the UK mustensure that the recently published UKAntimicrobial Resistance Strategy andAction Plan is actively adopted by allstakeholder departments and agencies.

The Interdepartmental Steering Group,and recently established Expert AdvisoryCommittee on Antimicrobial Resistance,must continue to press for widespreadacceptance of the strategy and develop across-departmental co-ordinated fundingprogramme, involving charities andindustry as appropriate, to stimulate effortsin antibiotic research, facilitate effectivelong-term surveillance of antibioticresistance, and to tackle the growth ofhospital-acquired infections. Furthermore,to increase funding for academic researchfocused on development of newtherapeutics, provide a more favourableclimate for pharmaceutical companies todevelop new antibiotics by extendingmarket exclusivity for these beyond thecurrent 20 years from patent registration.In addition, literature and advice is requiredat school level to encourage pupils to

Highlights of Peter Silley’s address at thePresident’s Dinner in which he raises the

very important issues of anti-microbialresistance and bioterrorism and the need

for the Society to foster links with thedecision makers affecting the future of

microbiology today

T

pursue careers in pharmaceutical scienceand medical microbiology and relatedprofessions. Government Departmentsshould liase with learned societies to thisend and revise medical and veterinarycurricula to reflect the significance ofinfectious disease and the appropriate useof antibiotics. These are clearly issues inwhich the Society must play a part.

So what of the future? It is perhapsworth considering events in the US andtheir potential impact on the UK Sciencefraternity. In the year since the attacksagainst the World Trade Centre in NewYork and the Pentagon, followed closely bythe anthrax outbreak, officials in the Bushadministration have proposed andimplemented new policies to safeguardagainst further threats to US security.Many microbiologists who will be affecteddo not yet fully appreciate the full impactof these new rules and are not aware ofhow they should go about complying withthe new requirements. Many of thechanges will affect microbiologists as theycarry out their professional responsibilities.In particular, some proposals could have animpact in terms of restricting the access ofresearchers to a wide variety ofmicroorganisms, imposing tighter securitystandards on laboratories, and on limitingthe details of what microbiologists canpublish. Proposals for changing agenciesthat sponsor research and public healthinvestigations could profoundly affect theway in which research priorities are set andhow resources are allocated. It would besurprising if a similar situation were not todevelop in the UK.


The President’s Dinner 2002

These issues were recently discussed inthe American Society for MicrobiologyNews and the point was well made in theeditorial that, “In the long term, the onlyway to defend against bioterrorism isthrough a combination of constantsurveillance, accurate diagnostics toidentify threats as early as possible, andcontinuous innovation to provide high-quality vaccines and drugs that can beuseful against any attacks that do occur.Research related to bioterrorism isinextricably linked to that of naturallyoccurring infectious agents anddevelopment of new antibiotics, antivirals,diagnostics, and vaccines.” Cassell, VP atEli Lilly is seeking to ensure that the newpolicies and rules that are adopted will bereasonably fair and workable to the manymicrobiologists whose professional livesthose policies and rules will so profoundlyaffect.

One of the issues facing microbiologistsin the aftermath of the deadly anthraxattacks of last year revolves aroundproposals to restrict publication and othercommunication rights over research

Peter SilleyHonorary President

findings from studies involving microbialpathogens that could risk divulginginformation useful to bioterrorists. Becauseaddressing these issues is not astraightforward undertaking, ASMPresident Ronald Atlas, asked NationalAcademy of Sciences (NAS) President BruceAlberts to invite scientific publishers toconsider the ramifications of censoringresearch communications or otherwisesuppressing the flow of information withinthe scientific community. I am sure ourfriends at Blackwell’s will have somethingto say on these issues. “The ability toreplicate research results is the cornerstonefor the ethical publication of scientificresearch”, Atlas recently reported in ASM

News, and expressed a fundamentalconcern over the prospects of changingscientific publishing practices: “we do notwant to be in a position where we areasked to allow authors to withhold criticalinformation because of concern thatsignificant data could be misappropriatedor abused.” A specific concern is thatpapers published without crucial data willbe cited by others, confusing criticallyreviewed science with science that cannotbe reproduced. Requests of this type haveserious potential for altering thefundamental tenets of scientific research.

It is clear that there is much to be doneand I trust that this Society will be heard asa relevant authoritative voice in thisdebate. In many cases this will meanworking with others to proclaim a unitedvoice whilst retaining our distinctiveness.We cannot, however, afford to turn ourbacks on our natural partners. I trust thecoming year will see us building bridgesand not destroying them.

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External Affairs

The Society is represented on manyscientific bodies and committees whichare of interest to microbiologists.Contact details for our theseorganisations and our representatives tothem are given below:

BCCB

British Co-ordinating Committee forBiotechnologywww.biochemistry.bham.ac.uk/stevew/bccb.htmlOur representative: Dr J Coote

BSI

British Standards Institutewww.bsi-global.comTechnical committees: AW/9 Microbiology: Dr S PassmoreMicrobiological Methods: Dr S PassmoreChemical Disinfectants & Antiseptics: Dr S BloomfieldDisinfectants (National Standards): Dr S Bloomfield

EFB

European Federation ofBiotechnology. www.efbweb.org/Advanced Genomics researchcommittee: Dr C Harwood

FEMS

www.fems-microbiology.orgOur represtative: Dr P Silley

FSA

Food Standards Agencywww.foodstandards.gov.uk/Foodborne disease Strategy ConsultativeGroup: Dr M Patterson

IOB

Institute of Biology http://www.iob.org/IOB Affiliated Societies Forum::Dr M PattersonIOB Environment Committee: Dr K JonesIOB Agric. Sciences Committee: Dr B SeddonIOB Biomedical Sciences Committee: Dr M Patterson

MISAC

Microbiology in Schools AdvisoryCommittee. Our representative: Dr M Adams

SEAC

Spongiform EncephalopathyAdvisory Committee.www.seac.gov.ukOur representative: Dr M Patterson

UKNCC

UK Federation for Culture Collectionshttp://www.ukncc.co.uk/Our representative: Dr P Green

UKNCM

UK National Committee forMicrobiology. www.ukncm.org.uk/ Our representative: Dr P Silley

Usefulcontacts

IOB AffiliatedSocieties Forum

The Institute of Biology, as part of itsremit to cover the Biological Sciences hasa series of Affiliated Society events. Asthe Society for Applied Microbiologyrepresentative on the Biomedical Sciencespanel I attend two meetings per year atthe Institute of Biology in London. Atthese meetings a broad range of relevantissues are discussed and topics selectedto be taken forward for Governmentattention. Two recent issues have beenshort-term contracts and fightinginfection. There are also a series ofAffiliated Societies Fora, the most recentone at the end of November 2002, havinga distinctly biomedical sciences slant.About 35 representatives from a range ofbiological societies were present. We werewelcomed by Dr. Nancy Lane, Presidentof the IOB and updated on variousInstitute initiatives including theintroduction of a Continuing ProfessionalDevelopment scheme and progresstowards a Biosciences Federation for theUK. The main business of the meetingwere presentations by three distinguishedspeakers. The first was from Dr. SandyThomas describing the work of theNuffield Council for Bioethics whichconsiders ethical questions raised byadvances in biology and medicine usingeither discussion papers or reports,depending on the urgency for a response.Discussion papers give a rapid responseand have been used for consideration ofstem cell research and DNA patenting.Issues where a longer time scale isavailable are addressed by reports whichtake about two years to prepare and havemainly been concerned with humangenetics. The next presentation was byLord Soulsby of Swaffham Prior whooutlined the Select Committee processand how it differs between those in theHouse of Lords and the House ofCommons. The topics of currentconsultations are Bioterrorism in theHouse of Commons and FightingInfection in the House of Lords. TheSociety reported on this initiative in thefeature “Pharmageddon Now” in theDecember issue of Microbiologist. Thefinal presentation was by Sir GeorgeRadda, Chief Executive of the MedicalResearch Council who spoke about themultidisciplinary approach needed forscientific research in the future. He alsoshowed some video clips illustrating the

role of collaborative research that hadallowed us to follow the development of aspecific tissue in the embryo. During thecourse of the day there were severalopportunities to talk to other societyrepresentatives which made it a veryuseful and interesting day.

Margaret PattersonHonorary General Secretary

Joint initiativesRepresentatives from SfAM and SGM

met recently to explore joint activitiesthat might be undertaken by the twoSocieties. A principle has beenestablished that any joint activities mustbe mutually beneficial andcomplementary to both Societies and be abenefit to UK microbiology as a whole.One idea is “Microbiology in the Regions”.where both Societies would jointlysponsor meetings aimed at promotingmicrobiology at regional level to membersand to the wider community. Two types ofmeeting were considered. Firstly, theformat of a one-day scientific meeting ona particular topic where the two Societieswould cover the costs and could also offera prize for the best presentation by ayoung scientist at the event. Secondly,inclusive rather than exclusive regionalgroup meetings to bring together senioracademics, students, local equipmentmanufacturers, EHOs, hospital staff andlocal industry etc., comprising shortpresentations on who is doing what andthe equipment available with the aim ofencouraging collaboration, sharing ofresources and training. These ideas arestill in development but updates will beposted on the website when they becomeavailable.

We are looking for more ideas andcomments from members and welcomeyour suggestions for other joint,complementary initiatives. Please sendyour comments and suggestions to me at:[email protected]


Reception at the House of LordsThe occasion was a reception hosted

by Lord Soulsby of Swaffham Prior tomark the launch of the “policy alert”with the wonderful title of“Pharmageddon Now”.

The instructions were to enter theHouses of Parliament through BlackRod’s Garden Entrance where we hadto present our invitation and letter ofconfirmation. We were then directedalong various passageways until wecame to our destination, theCholmondely Room and Terrace. At theentrance we went through airport stylesecurity checks and then to thecloakrooms where a lady took our coatsand bags. We then proceeded to thereception room where we were offereddrinks - white or red wine, orange juiceor tomato juice and then onward to theterrace. The terrace is fully enclosedand heated and looks out over the RiverThames. (You can see these terraces ifyou walk beside the River under St.

Thomas’s Hospital. The seriousbusiness of the evening then began withspeeches from Lord Soulsby, Dr. NancyLane (President of the Institute ofBiology), Mr. Marshall (President of theRoyal Pharmaceutical Society of GreatBritain), and Dr. Gibson (Chair of theParliamentary and ScientificCommittee). After that we were free tocirculate and talk with other guests.The guests included members of theHouse of Lords, people from otherGovernment Departments, reportersfrom scientific journals andrepresentatives from learned societiesand the pharmaceutical industry. Thiswas a very interesting evening and welook forward to an effective outcomefrom this policy alert and its associatedpapers.

It is not often that one is invited tothe House of Lords, but as the Societyfor Applied Microbiology representativefor the Affiliated Societies of theInstitute of Biology, I had that privilegein October.

Hilary DodsonCommittee Member

The EuropeanFederation ofBiotechnology

The European Federation ofBiotechnology (EFB) was founded in1978 to serve the interests of academicand industrial biotechnologiststhroughout Europe. EFB aims to advancethe use of cutting edge research inbiotechnology, to provide and inter-disciplinary/ national forum to improveeducation and to facilitate informeddialogue between scientists and thepublic.

Re-launch of EFB

The approval of new EFB statutesduring the General Assembly held inMadrid in August 2001 immediatelybefore the 10th European Congress ofBiotechnology marked the launch of arejuvenated Federation. These statutesinclude provision for the election of equalnumbers of representatives from industryand academia on the new EFB ExecutiveBoard (ExBo); individual and institutionalmembership of the Federation; the levy ofa fee of up to €1,000 a year from

institutional members; and the completionof the conversion of the former closedWorking Parties into Sections open tomembership by anyone interested inbecoming an active EFB member.

Activities of the EFB Secretariatand Executive Board

Two ExBo meetings have been held, inFrankfurt in October 2001 and inBrussels in June2002. More notable,however, has been the intense activity of aCore Group who, under the leadership offirst Pierre Crooy and more recentlyBørge Diderichsen, have instigated adiverse and vigorous programme of newactivities. Administrative support isprovided by the EFB Secretariat atDECHEMA under the leadership of RudyMarquart. Visit the website athttp://www.efbweb.org for full details ofcurrent activities and what has beenachieved in a relatively short period.There is a comprehensive calendar offorthcoming EFB events, details of howindividuals can register on-line for freemembership, links to EFB Sections(Biochemical Engineering Science;Microbial Physiology; Applied FunctionalGenomics; Agri-Biotechnology; AppliedBiocatalysis; Environmental

Biotechnology; Biodiversity; PharmaMedical Biotechnology) and Task Groups(Public Perceptions of Biotechnology;Education; Safety in Biotechnology;International Relations; Innovation); andlinks to web pages and on-lineregistration forms for forthcoming events.The latter includes Congresses, Symposia,international initiatives such as the EFBin China, and related activities by theTask Group for International Relations.

Membership of EFB

EFB is now keen to enlist yoursupport, either as registered personalmembers for whom no annual fee ischarged, or better still as an institutionalmember. Institutional membership feesprovide a steady income stream into theCentral Fund, thereby addressing thefundamental weakness that limited theeffectiveness of EFB in the past. EFBcurrently has 2190 personal and 149institutional (76 learned societies, 40companies and 33 research institutes/universities) members. The Society forGeneral Microbiology and The Society ofChemical Industry are both full memberswhile the British Coordinating Committeefor Biotechnology has paid a membershipfee to represent The Institute of Chemical


External Affairs

Engineers, The Society for AppliedMicrobiology, and the BiochemicalSociety. Universities, research institutesand industrial companies in the UK arenow encouraged to join this rapidlyexpanding Federation.

Recent events under the aegis ofthe EFB

The 10th European Congress ofBiotechnology held in Madrid last August,attended by about 1200 people, wasmarked by excellent scientificpresentations and highly professionalorganisation. ECB11 will be held in Baslein August 2003. The most recentEuropean Congress of BiochemicalEngineering Science in Delft inSeptember 2002 was also well attended.Various specialist meetings and shortcourses have enhanced both the profile ofthe Federation, and links with otherFederations. For example, FEMS haveprovided scholarships for young scientiststo participate in four if the last fivemeetings of the Microbial PhysiologySection. In return, the Section hasprovided high quality contributions to thenew Journal, FEMS Yeast Research, andwill organise two symposia at the 1stFEMS European Congress ofMicrobiology to be held in Lubljana inJune 2003.

EndangeredCultureCollection Fund

Culture collections throughout theworld help preserve and maintain theworking tools of our trade as practisingmicrobiologists. In many counties theseprecious biological resources arebecoming endangered and are being lostto the scientific community. Working withthe World Federation of CultureCollections (WFCC), the Society hastaken the initiative in launching TheEndangered Culture Collection Fund.

This is a new fund created by sfam inresponse to a request by the WorldFederation of Culture Collections (WFCC)to help to aid world culture collectionswhose existence is under threat. Aspracticing microbiologists most of us areaware of the value of national culturecollections as sources of authenticatedreference material and whose job it is topreserve, maintain and supply suchmaterials to those who wish to access thisarchived genetic resource. In most“developed” countries the majority ofnational collections are supported eitherdirectly or indirectly to varying degreesby government. But in less developedcounties culture collections very oftenhave no means of direct support or haveaccess to only very scant and unreliablesupport. Today, several important culturecollections are being lost each yearthroughout the world, not to mention thevery many not registered with the WFCCwho may represent the life work of one ormore eminent scientists. Very often thesecollections contain unique strains whichcould have properties of real value tomodern society.

The endangered culture collection sub-committee of the WFCC exists to helpsuch collections, but have so far beenfrustrated in their efforts since they arelimited to providing verbal and non-financial assistance. The Society’s newEndangered Culture Collection Fundwill allow a more tangible form ofassistance and will greatly increase thescope of this sub-committee to assistendangered collections. For example, itwill allow for the purchase of essential,basic, preservation equipment and/orconsumables and short term technicalassistance to give such collectionsbreathing space to affect a more lastingsolution. The Fund may also assist withthe removal of an endangered collectionto a safe haven if this is the only option.A grant of up to £2500 may not seem likemuch in the way of financial help but incountries where monthly salaries can beas low as US$10.00 such a grant couldprovide technical input and provideessential consumables for several years.

The WFCC is extremely indebted tosfam for taking a lead in its support ofglobal genetic resources. Applications tothe Fund are open to all those who satisfythe eligibility, criteria details of which areavailable from the Society Office.

Peter GreenCommittee Member

Colin HarwoodHon Editor: Letters in Applied Microbiology

Further information:

This can be obtained from the UK membersof the ExBo who are Jeff Cole, Colin Harwoodand Charles Bryce

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected].

Further information:

■ Postal applications to the fund. Please applyto the Society Office - address on page 5.

■ Online applications. A form will be availableshortly on the Society website.

The sfamEndangered Culture

Collection Fund

Purpose

1. To allow UK collection staff to visitendangered collections and provide trainingand advice aimed at preserving culturecollections either in situ or within thecountry of origin.

2. To provide short term relief in terms oftechnician’s salary costs, basic consumablesand/or equipment.

3. To pay for the relocation of collections toa willing recipient where collections cannotbe maintained in situ.

Guidelines

1. Annual awards totalling £2500 will beconsidered. This may be a single award ormultiple smaller awards. In exceptionalcircumstances this amount may beexceeded.

2. Applicants must have been members ofthe Society for at least 3 years or have theirapplication sponsored by such a member.

3. Applicants should request a formalapplication form or from the Society Office.All applications should also be supportedby a formal letter on headed paper fromthe appropriate institution and must becountersigned by a senior officerrepresenting that organisation andsupporting the application.

4. Applications are considered on a yearround basis and should in the first instancebe addressed to the Hon. General Secretaryat the Society Office.

5. A condition of funding is that anappropriate report must be produced forpublication in The Microbiologist.


sfam Summer Conference 2003

MICROBIOLOGYof ENGINEEREDENVIRONMENTSIncorporating 2nd International Congress on Microbiology in Civil Engineering

University of Surrey, Guildford, UK ●● 14 - 17 July 2003

HE 2003 SUMMERCONFERENCE will be held 14th- 17th July, 2003 at theUniversity of Surrey, Guildford.

This is intended to present an opportunityfor cross-disciplinary dialogue betweenmicrobiologists and engineers of allpersuasions. Both disciplines have hadmajor impacts on public health and thiswill form the focus of an opening debateat the first evening mixer. Speakers whohave already agreed to give invited papersinclude international experts covering thewhole range of topics, both academics andthose actively engaged in engineeringprojects and processes. The conference willattract a wide-ranging audiencedemonstrating just how importantmicrobes and their activities can be inalmost all engineered environments andhelp microbiologists appreciate the verysignificant contribution they can make tomodern engineering practices.

T

This conference will

help microbiologists

appreciate the very significant

contribution they can make to

modern engineering practices

There is a Booking form for thismeeting on page 23. The last day forregistrations is Friday 13 June 2003.

BOOK NOW!

This Meeting has been awarded

CPD accreditation tothe value of 2.4

CREDITS

The Society offers Studentships toenable student members to attendSociety meetings. These grants coverregistration, accommodation, meals(where appropriate) and modest travelexpenses. To apply, please complete theform on page 24.

STUDENTS!


Call for papersDuring the conference there will beample opportunity to presentoffered papers and posters within arelevant subject area, as well as asession for student oral paper andposter presentations. We will bepleased to receive ideas for offeredpapers and posters in relevantsubjects areas.

Abstracts should not exceed 500words and the contents shouldinclude the aims and objectives ofthe work, brief methodology,results, conclusions, andimplications for the work. Pleaseindicate whether you would prefera poster or oral presentation.

Abstracts should ONLY be sent byemail to the Society Office with thesubject line “Summer conferencesubmission”and marked for theattention of Lynne Boshier.

email: [email protected]

The closing date for submissionsis Friday 9 May 2003

Monday 14th July 2003

Registration: From 1400 hrs

Evening Debate:

“Modern public health: a result ofpractical engineering or microbiological science?”

For the Microbes:Dr John Lee, Head PHLS Water & EnvironmentalMicrobiology Research Unit, Central PublicHealth Laboratory, 61 Colindale Avenue,London, NW9 5HT.

For the Engineers: Professor Sandy Cairncross

Chairman:Professor Duncan Stewart-Tull

Tuesday 15th July 2003

Introductory overview

09.00 - 09.40 Biofilms and consortia: central themes in engineered systems.Hilary Lappin-Scott, Professor ofEnvironmental Microbiology,Department of BiologicalSciences, University of Exeter,Exeter, Devon EX4 4PS, UK

Microbiology of Wastes,Landfill and Remediation

09.40 - 10.20 Waste stabilisation ponds: their application in the UK and World-wideDr Tom Curtis, School of CivilEngineering and Geosciences,University of Newcastle,Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 7RU.

10.20 - 10.50 Coffee and poster session

10.50 - 11.30 Permeable reactivebarriers in remediation.

Prof. Robert Kalin, QuestorUnit, Department of CivilEngineering, University ofBelfast, Belfast, N. Ireland

11.30 - 12.10 Membrane bioreactors forwaste and leachate remediationSimon Judd, Reader in WaterSciences, Cranfield University,Cranfield, Bedfordshire, MK430AL

12.10 - 12.50 Offered papers

12.50 - 14.00 Lunch and poster session (Authors present from 1330 - 1400)

14.00 - 14.45 Natural attenuation and bioremediation of oil-contaminated sites.Dr Gordon Lethbridge, ShellGlobal Solutions (UK), CheshireInnovation Park, P.O.Box 1,Chester, Cheshire, CH1 3SH, UK

14.45 - 15.30 Phytobial remediation: exploitation of modified rhizospheresJames M. Lynch, Professor ofBiotechnology, School ofBiomedical and Life Sciences,University of Surrey, Guildford,Surrey, GU2 7XH, UK &G.E.Harman, University ofCornell, USA

15.00 - 15.30 Tea and poster session

16.00 - 16.40 Policy and regulatory aspects of soil and groundwater bioremediationAlwyn Hart, NationalGroundwater andContaminated Land Centre,Environmental Agency, OltonCourt, 10 Warwick Road,Solihull, West Midlands, B927XH, UK

16.40 - 17.20 Microbial metal winning, bacterial mining and reclamation of metalsMartin Hughes, Department ofChemistry, King’s College,University of London.

Programme

This programme was up to date at the time of publication but some speakershave not yet been confirmed. For the latest information and an online bookingform please visit the Society website at www.sfam.org.uk


sfam Summer Conference 2003

Wednesday 16th July 2003

Water and WastewaterProcessing

09.00 - 09.45 Engineering design to eliminate microbial/ biological problems in water mainsProf Richard van der Kooij andDr Jan Vreeburg, KIWA WaterResearch, Groningenhaven 7,Postbus 1072, 3430Nieuwegein, The Netherlands.

09.45 - 10.30 Polyaromatic hydrocarbon mobilisationby biofilms in water distribution systemsDr Matthias Maier, StadtwerkeKarlsruhe, Daxlander Strasse 72,76127 Karlsruhe, Germany


11.00 - 11.30 Novel disinfection systems; free radicals to high frequency pulsesDr David Holt, Research andDevelopment, Thames WaterUtilities, Spencer House, ManorFarm Road, Reading, RG2 0HP

11.30 - 12.00 Design and operation of activated sludge plants tooptimise biological phosphorus removalPeter Pearce and StephenWilliams, Thames Water Utilities,Spencer House, Manor FarmRoad, Reading, RG2 0JN, UK

Student Essay competitionTo complement the theme of this year's summer conference on"Microbiology of Engineered Environments" the Society is once againrunning a Student Essay Competition. The essay should be entitled "Whoshould manage bioremediation, microbiologists or engineers?" Entriesshould be word-processed, no longer than 1500 words and submitted to theSociety office no later than Friday 18th April 2003. The entries will bejudged by a panel of experts, including some of the key speakers. Thewinning essay will be published in Microbiologist’ and the author willreceive a certificate and £50 prize.

Thursday 17th July 2003

Buildings and the ConstructionIndustries continued

09.00 - 09.45 Wooden constructions: what happens now all the biocides are banned?Janice Carey, Building ResearchEstablishment, Bucknalls Lane,Garston, Watford, WD25 9XX,UK

09.45 - 10.30 Microbial interactions with structural stone and concrete.Thomas Warscheid, MPA-Bremen, Bremen, Germany


11.00 - 11.40 Microbial problems in tunnels and groundworksStefan Jefferis, Professor of CivilEngineering, GeotechnicalConsultancy Group, London, UK

11.40 - 12.20 Allergenic fungi in buildings and air-conditioning systemsSpeaker to be confirmed

12.20 - 13.00 Toxigenic moulds in buildings Maurice Moss, BritishMycological Society, 18 DagdenRoad, Guildford, Surrey, GU48DD, UK

End of Conference

Programme

12.00 - 13.00 Student oral presentations

13.00 - 14.00 Lunch and poster session (Authors present from13.30-1400)

Buildings and the ConstructionIndustries

14.00 - 14.45 Commissioning, balancingand microbiological problems in buildings’ water servicesElizabeth Day, 6 Chapel Lane,Westcott, RH4 3PJ, UK

14.45 - 15.30 Pseudomonas and other microbial problems in buildings’ water servicesJanice Calvert, Oakland CalvertConsultants Ltd, Unit 20,Greenwich Centre businessPark, Norman Road, London,SE10 9QF.

15.30 - 16.00 Tea and poster session

1600-1645 Cooling towers: Legionella and litigation.Mark Iddon, WaterManagement Society, MillHouse, Tolson’s Mill, Fazeley,Tamworth, Staffs, B78 3QB.

16.45 - 17.45 W.H.Pierce Memorial PrizeLecture

17.45 - 18.30 Annual General Meeting

20.00 Society Dinner

‘Microbiology of Engineered Environments’Only ONE person per form please. If additional forms are required please photocopy this one

● For all participants: The Society DOES NOT INVOICE for conference fees. Please treat your completed booking form as aninvoice. Cheques must be in £ STERLING ONLY and made payable to ‘The Society for Applied Microbiology’. Foreign cheques/drafts MUST be negotiable for the full amount due. Please note that AMERICAN EXPRESS and DINERS CARDS are NOTACCEPTED. However the following credit and debit cards are acceptable: VISA, Mastercard, Eurocard, Delta, Electron, JCB, Maestro and Solo.

Cheque enclosed Please charge my Mastercard/Visa card /Debit card (please delete inapplicable items)

TOTAL Amount enclosed/ to be debited: (*Please remember to include your LATE BOOKING FEE if your are booking after 13 June 2003)

Card number: Expiry Date:

Signature: *Date: Issue No. (Debit cards only)

Cardholder’s address to which credit card statement is sent:

Y O U R P A Y M E N T

S u m m e r C o n f e r e n c e 1 4 - 1 7 J u l y 2 0 0 3

BOOKING FORM and INVOICESU

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C L O S I N G D A T E F O R R E G I S T R A T I O N SFriday 13 June 2003. A LATE BOOKING FEE of £30.00 will operate after this date. NO REFUNDS will be given after Friday 13 June 2003

Please return the completed form by fax (post if you are enclosing a cheque) to: The Society for Applied Microbiology, The Blore Tower, The Harpur Centre, Bedford MK40 1TQ, UK. Tel: 01234 326661. Fax: 01234 326678. Email: [email protected]

Y O U R C O S T S

FullMembers

Student, Honorary &Retired Members

Student Non-Members

Non -Members

£300.00 £150.00 £300.00 £500.00

Whole Conference Rate: inclusive of registrationfee, coffee breaks, lunch, dinners, Society dinner andaccommodation for the entire Conference.

£75.00 £40.00 £75.00 £150.00Day Rate: 08.30 - 17.00 hrs per day or part thereof -inclusive of registration fee, coffee, lunch and tea)

Wednesday night inclusive of Society Dinner: £90.00

Monday or Tuesday night: £65.00Overnight Accommodation. En-suite room pernight inclusive of breakfast and dinner.

Whole Conference Rate Day Rate

£400.00 £120.00

Member of the Institute of Civil Engineers Fees:(Please enter your ICE membership number below)

Title: Family Name: First Name:

Address:

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Tel No: Fax No: Email:

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TOTAL AMOUNT REMITTED:

Charges - please tick the applicable box(es) Mon Tues Wed Thur Total Amount

£30.00*If you book accommodation on Wednesday night the cost of the SocietyDinner is included in your accommodation charge.

Please indicate any special dietary or other requirements (such as disabled access):

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‘Microbiology of Engineered Environments’Only ONE student per form please. If additional forms are required please photocopy this one

S u m m e r C o n f e r e n c e 1 4 - 1 7 J u l y 2 0 0 3

STUDENTSHIP ApplicationSU

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A b o u t t h i s a w a r d

The Society offers Studentships to enable student members to attend Society meetings. These grants cover registration,accommodation, meals (where appropriate) and modest travel expenses. Preference is given to students contributing to themeeting either by offering a paper or poster and who have not previously received a this award. To be considered for aStudentship grant, please complete this form in BLOCK CAPITALS and return it to the Society Office no later than Friday 2 May 2003.

Title: Family Name: First Name:

Address:

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Y O U R D E T A I L S

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Y O U R S U P E R V I S O R ’ S S U P P O R TThis section MUST be completed by your Supervisior or Tutor. Applications which are not supported by your Supervisor will beautomatically rejected. Please give your reasons why the applicant should receive a studentship:

Please return your completed application by fax or post to: The Society for Applied Microbiology, The Blore Tower, The Harpur Centre, Bedford MK40 1TQ, UK. Tel: 01234 326661. Fax: 01234 326678. Email: [email protected]

Will you be contributing to the meeting by offering a Poster or presenting a paper? Offering a Poster Presenting a Paper

In signing this application I agree to reimburse the Society for any costs it may incur in awarding this grant should the applicantfail to attend the conference or fail to notify the Society of their inability to attend the conference within 28 days of the start ofthe meeting.Please confirm your agreement by ticking the appropriate box: I agree I do not agree


The current revision of the WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality aims to supplement

drinking-water „product control“ with risk assessment and qual-

ity management strategies focussing on „process control“. This approach is called „Water Safety Plan“. It includes elements of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points), widely and successfully used in food industry.

In some countries this new development is already being implemented in the drink-ing-water supply chain from catchment to consumer, both in regulatory frameworks and upon initiative of individual water sup-pliers. Sector discussion of these concepts and of experiences with their implementa-tion is needed.

The international conference in Berlin aims to promote the understanding of currently available approaches to risk management, particularly of approaches using elements of HACCP. A further aim is the exchange of current experience with this approach in relation to other quality management systems applied to secure drinking-water safety.

From presentations given by experts select-ed among practitioners in water supply and public health you will learn about:3 Drinking-water targets for public health3 Water Safety Plans: the WHO approach3 Water suppliers‘ experience with HACCP

principles in catchments, in treatment and in distribution

3 Application of Water Safety Plans to small and medium-sized supplies

3 Integrating HACCP-principles into cur-rent quality management systems in drinking-water

3 Applicability of Water Safety Plans for managing chemical risks

3 Perspectives of regulation and surveil-lance authorities

Your experience and your assessment of these approaches is in demand. Thus, ex-tended „Coffee Workshops“ for discussion in smaller working groups including the speakers will take place daily. Participants are invited to contribute their experiences with short (3-5 minute) presentations as well as to discuss their judgement of these developments, particularly with respect to their relevance and applicability in the settings represented by the participants. The feed-back and the exchange of ideas developed in these Coffee Workshops will be recorded by rapporteurs and presented at the concluding plenary discussion.

Participants will receive a free copy of the WHO document on Water Safety Plans.

Conference languages will be English and German. Simultaneous translation will be provided.

Risk Management Strategies for Drinking waterSafetySafety

HACCP-based principles in drinking water: The Water Safety Plans of the WHO

Federal Environmental AgencySection II 4.3PO Box 33 00 2214191 Berlin, GermanyContact: Mr Michael Frobelemail: [email protected]/water-safetyphone: +49 (30) 8903 1415, fax: +49 (30) 8903 1800

In collaboration with:

f y

http://www.umweltbundesamt.de/water-safety

Berlin, 28 – 30 April 2003

things fast enough. The moreyou knew, the more peopleyou could help.” On hisreturn to the USA he enrolledat the University of Californiawhere he attained a PhD inPhysiology and Pharmacology.

He moved to the NationalInstitute of Health (NIH) in1984 where he worked on aproject to localise andsequence the gene coding forthe human brain α-adrenergicreceptor. His dedication towork was demonstrated whenhe purchased an automatedsequencer out of his ownpocket when his NIH bossesrefused to buy it for him.While at the NIH he usedExpressed Sequence Tag(EST) methodology (of whichsome claim he was thefounder) to identify 25sequences per day and indoing so discovered 3,500new human genes. In 1991 theNIH filed for patents on thesegenes which some may thinkwould result in the relative

prohibition of the free flow ofscientific information - but theUS Patents and TrademarksOffice didn’t agree. This wasto be the first example ofsignificant financial gain froma scientific discovery thatwould become a Ventertrademark. In 1992 Venter leftthe NIH because he didn’tagree with the bureaucracy.He went on to use the$70million, 10year researchgrant given to him by aventure capitalist firm for hiselucidation of theaforementioned genes, to setup the Institute for GenomeResearch (TIGR). In 1994Venter teamed up withHamilton Smith - formerNobel prize co-winner for thejoint discovery of restrictionenzymes - to shotgunsequence the first prokaryoticgenome, that of Haemophilusinfluenzae. In order tosupport this work Venter andSmith had no choice but to“dip into TIGR funds when

and hydrogen-producingproperties of bacteria, in anattempt to create a cleanenergy source!

Born in 1946 in Salt LakeCity, Venter left anunremarkable High Schoollife, where he’d beenunmotivated and directionlessnot for academia, but for thebeaches of California, wherehe’d developed a passion forsurfing. This enthusiasm forthe waves may have been whyhe volunteered as a Navymedical corpsman in Da Nangduring the Vietnam War. Herehe was “taught lessons aboutthe fragility of human lifeand the colossal ineptitudeof big bureaucracies.” Hisrebellious nature was tomanifest itself when he spenttwo stints in the brig forrefusing to follow orders.However, his attitude toeducation had changed:“When I started learningand practicing medicine inVietnam, I couldn’t learn

T WAS CLEAR froman early age thatCraig Venter had arebellious streak.

Former leader of CelaraGenomics Inc. - thecommercial ‘opposition’ to thepublicly funded InternationalHuman Genome MappingConsortium (IHGMC), he hasnow decided to take theknowledge gained (andfinancial reward he obtainedby refusing to publish hishuman genome data in thepublic database, GenBank) tonew heights. He now aims to‘create a new life form’. Thismay make him appear God-like and his renegade qualitiesand reputation for profiteeringwould suggest that he believeshe is a law unto himself. Butthe nature of his next projectappears at first glance tocontradict this attitude. He isproposing to use the sequenceof bacterial genes to create anentirely new life form, andenhance the CO2-sequestering

PPllaayyiinngg GGoodd??Lucy Harper reports on the

work of the controversialAmerican Scientist, Craig

Venter who is determined tocreate a synthetic life form.

The award of a $3 millionresearch grant suggests we

should take his work seriously

I


Features

there was very little there.”It took them just a year tosequence the H. influenzaegenome which, with just over1,000 genes is relatively small.As a testament to thegrievances between Venter andNIH, a grant proposal whichVenter and Smith had appliedfor to perform this work wasrejected just a month beforeits completion.

Venter’s interest in genomesequencing had beenawakened and in 1998 he gaveup directorship of TIGR to hiswife and collaborator ClaireFraser. He and Perkin Elmer(now Applera) formed ‘CeleraGenomics’ a company whichwould use shotgun sequencingto sequence the entire humangenome. At around the sametime the publicly fundedHuman Genome Project(HGP) headed by FrancisCollins, was funding numerousresearch centres worldwide touse the clone-by-clonetechnique to sequence thehuman genome. This group ofinstitutions would form theInternational Human GenomeMapping Consortium(IHGMC)

Venter believed histechnique would allow thehuman genome to besequenced in a fraction of thetime it would take the IHGMC- but what is shotgunsequencing? This techniqueinvolves fragmenting anorganisms DNA, sequencingeach of the tiny fragments,and reassembling thesequences in the correct orderusing computationaltechnology. The clone-by-clonetechnique on the other hand isa much more laboriousprocedure in which anorganisms DNA is fragmentedand inserted into bacteria,creating bacterial artificialchromosomes (BACs). TheDNA segments are replicatedas the bacteria themselvesreplicate and each of a set ofoverlapping segments issequenced in order toreconstruct the sequence of

the whole chromosome. Thiswould produce virtually anentire genome sequence inwhich any sequence gapswould be closed, compared toCelera’s draft sequence whichwould have to be returned toand the gaps filled in at a laterdate. In the end the HGPcouldn’t stand the pressureand resorted to copyingVenter’s shot-gun sequencingtechnique in a bid to savetime. Was this shortcutting onthe part of the IHGMC?Whether it was or not, bothparties finished theirsequences at about the sametime and the first analyses ofthis sequence data werepublished in Feb 2001(Morgan et al., 2001; Venteret. al., 2001). Both party’sfindings confirm that thehuman genome has between35,000 - 45,000 genes,considerably more than H.Influenzae.

This data were merely theinitial ‘working draft’ of thehuman genome sequence andit will be some time before allthe gaps have been filled in,however at the Cold SpringHarbor Genome Meetings inthe USA scientists are runninga sweepstake as to the numberof genes the human genomeactually contains. So far theyhave had 165 bets rangingfrom 27,462 to 153,478, withthe money being on 61,710genes.

The implications of theelucidation of the humangenome are vast and wide-ranging. They include therelation of genetic informationto a myriad of diseases withsubsequent consequences fortheir treatment, and thecomparison of the humangenome with that of otherorganisms allowing scientiststo gain a deeper insight intoevolutionary patterns. Untilthe human genome wassequenced, scientists had beenstudying genetics, i.e. thestudy of structure andfunction of one particulargene, but now they have the

capacity to study genomics,investigating how hugenumbers of genes act inrelation to one another.

Upon publication of thehuman genome sequence data,a public slanging match beganbetween the IHGMC and theircommercial ‘opposition’.

Venter made his positionclear: “Fundamentally, thepublic genome program wasso vested in its ownmethodology, in its ownfunding bureaucracy, that itdidn’t want to entertain newideas. That isn’t how scienceshould proceed.” However,members of the IHGMC notethat HGP officials werecontinuously looking for newtechnologies which wouldallow them to complete theproject as quickly andinexpensively as possible. Theclone-by-clone versus shotgunsequencing row continues withsome workers from theIHGMC arguing that Ventercould not have achieved hisresults without theircontribution, and that hisresults were not actually anindependent sequence of thehuman genome at all(Waterston et al., 2002).Venter’s response to thispaper was to claim that HGPscientists were using statisticsto “lie and fool the scientificcommunity... It’s disturbinghow few independent voicesthere are in science. Peopleare so afraid of offendingtheir possible fundingsources that mis-stated factsin science don’t getchallenged anymore.”

However, the fact that Celerawould not make theirsequence data available to thepublic by placing it on theGenBank database cannot beignored. This data is availablethrough Celera directly or viatheir website, however thereare pre-conditions in place forcommercial users, and evenacademic researchers have tomake numerous legal andfinancial agreements withCelera before they can accesstheir data. This makes the dataselectively available unlike theHGP data which are freelyavailable to all. I attempted toaccess the data from theCelera website(www.celera.com) and foundthat to access the humangenome sequence and use thetools available to analyse thisdata would cost me aminimum of approximately$7,000 for a three yearsubscription! This is hardlyconducive to the free flow ofscientific information. Butthen again, if Celera hadn’tsuggested using shotgunsequencing, and the HGPhadn’t followed their examplethe data might not yet havebeen available at all. Venteralso points out that it is notthe raw base-by-base data thathas any real value, but thecomputational tools whichCelera developed in order tointerpret the data that makethis information so valuable.

Venter left Celera inJanuary 2002 due to reasonswhich tie in with hisnonconformist nature -differences between himselfand management of Appleraabout the direction of Celera.The commercialisation of thesequencing of the humangenome was highly profitableand when Venter left thecompany it was generating$130-150 million per year inrevenues.

With an apparent change ofattitude, Venter is now puttinghis efforts into three non-profit organisations which hehas set up:


Features

Lucy HarperMolecular BiosciencesAston University

References

■ Hutchison C. A. et al. (1999)Global transposonmutagenesis and a minimalmycoplasma genome. Science286, 2165

■ Morgan M. J. et al. (2001)Initial sequencing andanalysis of the humangenome Nature 409, 860 TheHuman Genome Project

■ Venter J. C. et al. (2001) Thesequence of the humangenome. Science 291, 1304

■ Waterston, R. H., Lander, E. S.and Sulston J. E. (2002) On thesequencing of the humangenome. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.USA, 99, 3712

■ Website Launch Article

1. The Centre for theAdvancement of Genomics(TCAG). This organisation(with a clever acronym) willbe a centre for theadvancement of sciencethrough education. It willsupport the Nondiscriminationin Health Insurance &Employment Act currentlyunder consideration inCongress, and among otherventures will promote stemcell research.

2. The Institute forBiological Energy Alternatives(IBEA). This will seek

biological answers to globalwarming. The idea for theinstitute came after Venter etal completed the sequence ofthe first ArcheanMethanococcus jannaschii -an autotroph which uses CO2

as its primary source ofcarbon and produces methanethrough its metabolism. Thishas obvious environmentalimplications in potentiallyabsorbing excess CO2 fromthe atmosphere. Anotherorganism with potentiallyenvironmentally friendlyproperties metabolisesmethane and produceshydrogen. Venter believes itcould be genetically ‘altered’to drive fuel cells and otherclean-energy applications.Together with Hamilton Smith,he will investigate theimplications of their discoveryof the minimum number ofgenes required to sustain thelife of Mycoplasmagenitalium. This organism,which inhabits the genito-urinary tract wall, has a totalgenome size of 578kb and is

home to 517 genes and assuch it is the free-livingorganism with the smallestknown genome. Venter andSmith found that in order forM. genitalium to remainalive, merely 265 - 350 of itsgenes are required, of whichas many as 1/3 have unknownfunction (Hutchison et al.,1999). At the end of last yearthe IBEA announced that ithad been awarded a $3milliongrant from the Office ofScience Department of Energyto fund the project whose aimis to create a synthetic lifeform by getting rid of all its‘unnecessary’ genes. There areobvious ethical implicationsinvolved in the creation of a‘new’ life form.

Were Venter and Smithsuccessful, they mayultimately have the knowledgeand technology to ‘build life-forms from scratch’ whichcould put existing life forms atrisk. Venter has alsoconsidered the implications ofthis type of informationgetting into the ‘wrong hands’

and has declared that all themethodology will remainconfidential. Another measurehe and Smith will be takingimmediately to ensure theproject remains ethicallyviable, is to ‘knock out thegene(s) responsible for M.genitalium’s ability to attachto human cells. To this end thebioethics group led byMargaret Cho of StanfordUniversity have given Venterethical approval and he isprobably working on his newproject as you read thisarticle!

3. The J. Craig VenterScience Foundation (JCVSF).The third not-for-profitorganisation founded byVenter will be the fundingbody for TCAG, IBEA andTIGR. The funds will comefrom the TIGR endowmentfrom stocks which Venterreceived as founder of CeleraGenomics.

Venter’s passion for DNAsequencing and moreimportantly, his ability toenhance the power of theinformation he has gainedfrom doing so, has led himfrom apparently ruthlessprofiteering, to research withmassive positiveenvironmental implications.

Whether he turns hiscurrent projects into anothermoneymaking venture remainsto be seen. Perhaps, now thathe is in a position to fund hisown research without havingto give back his profits to the

venture capitalists, the realVenter will materialise. As hesays himself:

“In the not-for-profitworld, things can happen ina very cooperativeinteractive fashion thatcan’t happen in thecommercial world. Very fewscientists have had the levelof press coverage that I’vehad from what I’ve done,and I’m trying to use thebully pulpit I’ve developedfrom all that attention todeal with important issues.”

Whether this is just lipservice or Craig Venter’sgenuine belief is a question towhich only he knows theanswer - but if it is true thenperhaps he’s not such a badboy after all.

29March 2003

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VERY FIVE OR SIXyears, the UnitedKingdom’sacademic

establishment sets out toperform an experiment onitself. Called the ResearchAssessment Exercise (RAE),the vast endeavour involves 60research panels, eachinvestigating a specificdiscipline, from musicology togenomics. The panels,consisting of about 15eminent researchers perpanel, evaluate the researchoutput of every participatinguniversity and institute. In theend, each institution receivesa ranking based on the qualityof its research.

The RAE is enormouslytime consuming and costly. Ittakes up to a year of dedicatedwork by panel members andadministrative staff of theacademic departments. Andthe four Higher EducationFunding Councils that sponsorit spend as much as £50million for the report. Thestakes are enormously high. Inaddition to the bragging rights

such a qualitative rankingbestows, the final score ofeach school is used todetermine how much overheadmoney the government willgive to help fund a school’sresearch.

The next RAE might bevastly different from the onecompleted in 2001. Faced withdemands to make the processcheaper and fairer, the HigherEducation Funding Councilfor England (HEFCE) isconsidering using citationanalysis - ranking the numberof times peers cite aresearcher’s work todetermine the quality of theresearch - as a significant partof the RAE. “Citationanalysis is a very useful toolin assessing the impact ofresearch,” says Sian Thomas,Director of Research at theHEFCE, the main overseer ofthe RAE. “It’s impractical formany disciplines that theRAE tracks, especially in thehumanities, but its efficacyhad been proven in the lifesciences.” She says the UKacademic community which

Citationanalysis:friend or foe?

Sam Jaffe questions the validity of using citation analysis inthe forthcoming Research Assessment Exercise anddiscovers it has as many opponents as supporters

Ewas once resistant to thisanalysis, is coming around toaccepting it.

Yet many British biologistsadamantly resist citationanalysis as an assessment tool.“The opportunity fordistortions being created bythe analysis of citationnumbers is very great, and Ithink that, on balance, theuse of citation analysis ishaving a negative impact onscience,” says JohnBrookfield, a reader ingenetics at NottinghamUniversity, who served on thebiology panel of the RAE in2001.

Analysing the ReluctantRAE

If the RAE does employcitation analysis it will be awatershed event in the UnitedKingdom. The practice ofcounting citation and usingthe data to assess a paper’simpact was pioneered in the1960s by Eugene Garfield,who also founded TheScientist. Garfield has longargued that citation analysis

should be used for evaluatingonly large pools of scientists,such as when comparing theresearch output of a country, ascientific journal, or even auniversity department.

When non-statisticiansbreak down the citationanalysis to evaluate anindividual researcher, thescience behind it will oftenbreak down as well, accordingto Gregory Feist, a visitingassociate professor ofpsychology at University ofCalifornia and an expert incitation analysis. “As long asit’s one of many criteriabeing used to evaluate oneindividual, it’s an excellenttool”, he says. “But if it’s thesole criterion you’re justasking for trouble.”

Nevertheless, the practicehas crept into individualevaluations. Often in theUnited States, for example,grants are awarded and jobsoffered based on how manycitations a scientist’s papershave garnered. “I’ll use itwhen evaluating a professorup for tenure, but I’ve

This article appeared in The Scientist November 11th 2002 16 (22) p54.© Copyright 2002, The Scientist LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduced with kind permission.


Features

References:

1 A. Smith, M. Eysenck, “TheCorrelation between RAEratings and citation countsin psychology,” June 2002available online at:http://psyserver.pc.rhbnc.ac.uk/citations.pdf

2 C. Oppenheim, “Docitations count? Citationindexing and the researchassessment exercise,” Serials,9:155-61, 1996

Sam Jaffe

studied it and I know itslimitations,” says BlaiseCronin, Dean of IndianaUniversity’s School of LibraryScience. Such debate informsthe reluctance to allowcitation analysis to be used.

Unlike the United States,the United Kingdom has acentralised scientificinfrastructure. Much of themoney for researchinfrastructure (which includessalaries, building construction,and maintenance andmiscellaneous costs) comesdirectly from the governmentand is awarded to schools,which then apportion it toindividual faculty members.Up until the 1980s,bureaucrats in Londonapportioned the money toinstitutions, with littleobjective oversight fromacademia. The desire to adapta more objective assessmentled to the first RAE in 1986.Since which, an RAE hasoccurred every five or sixyears.

While the RAE certainlywas a great leap in fairness

over the previous method ofapportionment, it still has itsdetractors. “The RAE isenormously expensive”, saysAndrew Smith, a member ofthe Department of Psychologyat Royal Holloway of theUniversity of London.

Enter Citation Analysis

If the laborious RAE couldbe replaced by a simplerstatistical study using citationanalysis, it could save untoldmillions of pounds, not tomention a few trees. “It’s aquick and dirty way to getto the same result,” Croninsays.

But does it really end upwith the same result? Severalpapers retroactively matchedup citation analysis with theRAE results and came up withvery similar conclusions. Themost prominent paper, writtenby Smith and Phillip Eysenckof the University of London’spsychology department,looked at the citation countsof about half of all psychologydepartments that submittedinformation for the RAE. Byusing citation analysis alone,the study came up with anextremely high correlation of0.91 (with 1.0 being a perfectcorrelation), with the actualrankings determined by theRAE psychology panel.1

Smith asserts that many ofthe problems of citationanalysis, such as excessiveself-citation and the advantageof older researchers who havemore papers under their belts,can be fixed with statisticaladjustments. As long ascitation analysis is usedcarefully and on a large scale,it is a perfect tool for theRAE, Smith says.

That’s not to sayresearchers don’t resist theidea. “They’re used to doingthings using an old-boynetwork that worksinformally and subjectively,”says Charles Oppenheim ofthe Department of InformationScience at LoughboroughUniversity, a supporter of

citation analysis.2 Oppenheimbelieves that citation analysiscan work effectively as doesthe peer-review panel.

Some critics of citationanalysis admit that part of theresistance to it in the UnitedKingdom is based on culturaldifferences with the UnitedStates. “The way the systemworks in the UK is that ifyou don’t screw up, you gettenure,” says Julian Warner,an information scientist atQueen’s University of Belfast.“In the US, there’s a lot moreopenness to using raw datato determine your career.Here, they’re scared of it.”

Warner is not a proponent,however, of using citationanalysis for the RAE. Heagrees that it reflects the sameresults as the old subjectivemethod but is more worriedabout its effect on science as awhole. “The act of citing is ahuman activity,” he says. “Ifyou change how it’sinterpreted, you’ll changethe activity.” He adds that ifthe RAE accepts citationanalysis, he fears it will be

only a matter of time beforecitations will become a kind ofcurrency scientists trade outfor favours. Julian Warnerbelieves the original purposeof a citation - to refer readersback to necessary sourcematerial - will be lost. Andscience will suffer.

Nevertheless, he admitsthat citation analysis willbecome more commonplace inthe coming years, whether ornot the RAE adopts it. Alreadythe governing bodies ofscience in Australia, Canada,and some German federations,have adopted it, so the UnitedKingdom probably isn’t too farbehind. As Warner puts it:“It’s the most effectiveweapon in thearmamentarium of objectiveevaluation. Sooner or later,it will be accepted here andeverywhere else.”

The Scientist is a news journalfor life scientists and is availableevery two weeks free of chargeto qualified life scientistsinvolved in research. To find outmore and to apply for a freesubscription, visit The Scientistweb site at:

www.the-scientist.com


HIS YEAR’S JANUARYMEETING took place in theHoliday Inn, Birmingham on8th and 9th January 2003.

The meeting was entitled “Lab on a chip- diagnosis and onsite testing” andover 100 delegates turned up to listen towhat proved to be a very stimulatingrange of topics presented by engineers,chemists, physicists and microbiologists,all concentrating on techniques designedto diagnose the presence of multiplemicroorganisms or their products in aclinical, food or environmental setting inthe quickest possible time. The electronicchip, designed in the form of a biosensor,has opened up the possibility ofcomprehensive, simultaneous analysis forthe presence of multiple pathogens ortheir products or for parallel testing forthe presence of specific drug-resistancealleles. Many thousands of spots ofnucleic acids or proteins can be depositedonto a solid surface, the ‘chip’, no largerthan a microscope slide.

In the case of DNA arrays, chemicalbonding between the reference probe onthe solid surface and complementarysequences in the target in the sample

solution provides information about thenucleic acid sequences present in thesample. For proteins, the analogousreactions are between antigens andantibodies and these form the basis ofprotein arrays. Miniaturisation isachievable where the system respondselectronically to binding of test materialto an array spot usually via fluorescenceemission from DND/DNA hybrids orantigen/antibody complexes. Imageanalysis software correlates the positionof the fluorescence with the identity ofthe reference probe. This multiplexidentification system, when coupled to theminiaturisation of the chip components,provides the opportunity for developmentof portable hand-held devices for useonsite or at the point of care. Automationof these complex processes is the goalwhere no user intervention is requiredafter samples are loaded and results areobtained in a matter of minutes. Themeeting addressed both current uses andtechnological developments in severalareas of biosensor detection. It includedcontributions from companies andresearchers active in these fields with‘portability’ as a major theme, but speed

and ease of detection, safety, qualitycontrol, cost effectiveness and the need tofulfill the requirements of the end-userwere all considered during the course ofthe meeting.

Technological Developmentsand Clinical Applications.Chaired by John Coote (morning), AlastairMacMillan and Peter Borriello (afternoon).

Jonathan Cooper (ElectronicsDepartment, Glasgow University) startedthe meeting with an introduction‘Microsystems technology inbioanalytical sensing’.

He concentrated on the opportunitiesthat microsystem technology offers forimproved bioanalytical analysis. He firstoutlined the advantages thatmicrosystems have over conventionalassay formats; faster responses, improvedsignal to noise ratios offering greatersensitivity, faster thermal cycling timesfor procedures such as hybridisation andPCR, the capacity to integrate processingand detection in one format and low cost.He then went on to discuss developmentsin his own laboratory which included

T

Lab on a chip:diagnosis and onsite testing

John Coote reports on this year’s January Meeting


January 2003 Meeting report

research into 3-dimensional array formatsand exploration of more sensitivedetection methods than the measurementof fluorescence which is currentlyfavoured as the signal for detection of anyinteraction between probes and target onthe electronic chip. He finished up bynoting the diversity of assay systems nowamenable to microanalysis, including notonly detection of microorganisms but alsodetection of chemicals, physiologicalchanges in the body using a chip-basedsensor introduced into the host, andmetabolic changes in cells as a responseto drugs.

Peter Ghazal (Scottish Centre forGenomic Technology and Informatics,Edinburgh University) followed with atalk on ‘Molecular signatures fordiagnosis of infection’.

He explained how microarraytechnology enabled high throughputanalysis of a huge spectrum of thegenome content of organisms or theirgene expression. This has led to a rapidlyexpanding domain of information sciencewhich requires new bioinformaticmeasuring technologies to provide themost appropriate statistical analysis of

the data. Working mainly with viralgeneomes, his laboratory has usedmicroarray technology to provide instantgenome sequence detection for straindifferentiation and genotyping of viralpathogens for epidemiological studies. Inaddition, microarray analysis of the hostgene expression responses to pathogeninvasion provides a pattern of geneexpression or infection ‘signature’characteristic of each virus. Thuscharacteristic gene expression profiles ofcytokines, stress response proteins,protein synthesis or the cell cycle andapoptosis can be detected. The challengenow is to use this data to identify newtherapeutic targets and to sample cellsfrom a naturally infected host in order toprovide an early prediction of the type ofinfection involved.

Richard Watts (Nanogen UK,Cambridge) presented ‘The Nanochip®

and its applications in microbialanalysis’.

The Nanochip® represents an exampleof an easily portable device which withfurther development could be employedat point of care for pathogen diagnosis.Richard explained the nature of the

Nanochip® which is comprised of an arrayof one hundred independently controlledmicroelectrodes on a silicon chip. Inconjunction with the Nanochip® MolecularBiology Workstation, charged particles(DNA/RNA) can be easily manipulated andhybridised to one or many electrodes inseconds rather than hours. This allows forone hundred different samples to beaddressed to the chip. Independentadjustment of the electrical bias on eachmicroelectrode offers the ability toaccurately control hybridization reactions.This circumvents the need for thermal orchemical denaturation when stringentdiscrimination is required at a specificelectrode(s).

Richard showed how the analysis ofpolymorphisms and presence of sequencespecific markers such as heterogenicidentification sequences or resistancegenes, can be easily achieved on theNanochip® making it ideally suited tomicrobial analysis. Furthermore, heexplained how isothermal amplificationby means of strand displacementamplification can be accomplished on theNanochip® surface, negating the need forPCR.

The electronic chip, designed in the form of a biosensor, has opened up the possibility ofcomprehensive, simultaneous analysis for the presence of multiple pathogens or their products orfor parallel testing for the presence of specific drug-resistance alleles


Peter Borriello (Central PublicHealth Laboratory, London) began theafternoon session with a talk on ‘Lab ona Chip applications for pathogendiagnosis’. Peter began by emphasisingwhat he called a revolution in the mannerin which seemingly disparate fields ofnucleic acid analysis, bioinformatics,nanotechnology, micro-electronics andsolid state and combinatorial chemistryare all being employed together for thedetection and characterisation ofpathogens. These devlopments,particularly with regard to near-patienttesting, have important implications forthe delivery of health care. They offer theonce science fiction scenario of taking adrop of blood, urine or saliva and withinan hour knowing which pathogen ispresent, its type designation and itsantimicrobial resistance potential. Heoutlined how new PCR procedures, suchas Lightcycler PCR, offers quantitativeanalysis of, for example, viral load andcan be used for mutational analysis byadjustment of annealing temperatures.The application of mass spectrometry tomicrobiology is set to have a majorimpact.

By identifying surface antigens of amicrobial cell, MALDI-TOF or SELDI-TOFtechniques provides pathogen and evenserotype identification in 3 minutes.These techniques will allow quicker andmore appropriate prescribing for diseasessuch as meningitis.

Guy Vernet(BioMerieux,France) followedwith a presentationentitled ‘Speciesdifferentiationand antibioticsusceptibility

testing with microarrays’. Guy beganby noting that for some important humanpathogens like Staphylococcus aureus orMycobacterium tuberculosis, there is aneed not only for accurate and rapidspecies identification and strain typing,but also a need to define its antibioticresistance profile at the same time.Assays based on molecular biologytechnologies have been introduced inrecent years into the diagnosticlaboratory and their clinical value is nowwell established, especially for theidentification of difficult-to-grow bacteria,for the epidemiological characterizationof strains involved in nosocomialinfections and for the detection of

mutations associated with resistance toantibiotics. Analysis with high-densitymicroarrays following multiplex nucleicacid amplification allows for simultaneoustesting of a specimen for any number ofsuspected pathogens. He outlined howthese assays rely on the purification ofnucleic acids directly from the patientspecimen or from a culture taken fromthe specimen, on the multiplexamplification of the genetic targets ofinterest, on the hybridisation of thelabeled amplicons on microrrays and,finally, on the analysis of geneticinformation from specific sites within thedifferent targets with adapted softwareand algorithms. Guy described feasibilitystudies conducted on two assays forMycobacterium and Staphylococcusgenera, based on the photolithographyDNA-Chip technology developed byAffymetrix. The Mycobacterium assaycombined species identification for 135sequevar that represented 80 species,strain typing of species inside thetuberculosis complex and detection ofmutations linked to resistance toRifampin. Species identification was doneusing primers specific to theMycobacterium genus located in the 16Sribosomal DNA sequence. 104 Rifampinmutations were detected in the rpoB geneof M. tuberculosis following theamplification of approximately 1000nucleotides. The assay can be performedwithin a working day on a smear-positivesputum sample. The Staphylococcusassay combined species identification for34 species, typing of S. aureus strainsand detection of several genes or

mutations linked to resistance tomethicillin, fluoroquinolones andaminoglycosides. Species identificationwas done with primers specific for theStaphylococcus genus and the detectionwith the Chip of a combination ofsequence signatures in the 16S rDNA.

The efficiency of several genomicapproaches for typing that have beenimplemented on the Chip are currentlybeing evaluated, including Multi-LocusSequence Typing (MLST) using the alleledetermination of 7 housekeeping targetgenes. The presence or absence ofsequence signatures of the mecA genedetermine the resistance to methicillin.Allele analysis of 3 genes (aac[6’]-aph[2’’], aph[3’]-III, Ant[4’][4’’]) allowsthe determination of the resistance profileagainst aminoglycosides. Finally, thedetection of 39 mutations in grlA andgrlB denotes the resistance profile tofluoroquinolones. The objective of theseassays is to perform the multiplexanalysis of these different targets within aworking day starting from a uniquecolony. Results obtained with the twoprototype assays as well as with otherreagents in the fields of clinical virologyor food industry testing show that themicroarray technology is very promisingand will soon be part of the laboratorytools available to microbiologists.

Guy Vernet’s talk was followed by twooffered papers. Richard Anthony (KITBiomedical Research, Netherlands)described a novel flow-through arraysystem, the ‘PamChip’ (PamGeneInternational, Netherlands) which allowedMycobacterial speciation by hybridisation



in minutes. Unpurified labelled PCRproducts were directly applied to thePamChip and the resulting hybridisationdetected using a fluorescent microscopewith CCD camera. The large 3D surfaceof the porous PamChip results inextremely rapid hybridisation as thenucleic acid probes are immobilised inthe membrane and the hybridisation fluidpasses back and forth through themembrane. Direct detection of thefluorescence due to hybridisation allowedthe species from which the PCR productswere obtained to be determined within 20minutes. Single nucleotide polymorphismscould easily be detected. Additionally, asthe system is real time, temperaturecontrol of the hybridisation chamberallows the melting characteristics of eachamplicon and probe combination to bestudied. When combined with “rapid” PCRamplification this system allows all stepsrequired for an array-based assay to beperformed in less than one hour. Theyhave created an array which can speciatemycobacteria and predict rifampinresistance and as additional probes do notincrease the time or complexity of theassay, arrays allowing the simultaneousdetection of markers for other resistancegenes are being developed.

Richard Goering (CreightonUniversity School of Medicine, Nebraska,USA) described a universal reportingapproach to the detection of SNPs in thechromosome of Staphylococcus aureususing the Nanogen Nanochip®

Workstation. The GyrA subunit of theDNA gyrase gene in S. aureus has beenextensively studied due to its relationship

to quinolone resistance. He described themicroarray analysis of gyrA, whereby a914 bp region of the gyrA gene was PCRamplified and sequenced from a panel of17 methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA)isolates. Out of 61 SNPs, 8 were selectedfor microarray analysis and each SNP wasanalyzed in 6 isolates with both‘traditional’ and universal reportingmethods. The results showed thatmicroelectronic array analysis produceddata equivalent to those obtained throughtraditional reporting and conventionalDNA sequencing for all of the SNPsanalyzed in each of the isolates. With theNanogen microelectronic array platform,genomic differences within the gyrA genewere rapidly and accurately assessed.

After a break for refreshment, AndreaArdizzoni (Imperial College of Science,Technology and Medicine, London) talkedabout ‘Antigen microarrays forserodiagnosis of infectious diseases’.

He explained how their laboratory hasapplied the microscopic array principle todevelop a microarray immunoassay forthe simultaneous, quantitativedetermination of IgG and IgM antibodiesto Toxoplasma gondii, Rubella virus,Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Herpessimplex virus types 1 and 2 (ToRCHpanel) in human serum. Microarrays ofhuman IgG, IgM and viral antigens wereprinted on activated glass slides usinghigh-speed robotics. After incubation withsamples and fluorescent probes, the slideswere washed, dried and scanned usingconfocal microscopy and quantified usingantibody dilution curves. The sensitivityof the human IgG array test was

calculated as 0.5µg/mL; precision rangedfrom 1.7% to 14.6% for all ToRCHparameters. Using a panel of clinicalsamples, an excellent agreement wasobtained with enzyme immunoassay data,e.g. for CMV, out of 56 samples analysedwith the microarray test, 36 wereclassified as positive, 18 as negative and2 as equivocal. The corresponding resultswith an ELISA were 37 positive, 18negative and 1 equivocal. The microarraytest format thus provided equivalentperformance to ELISA tests but had asignificant advantage in convenience,time and cost as it allowed multipleserological parameters to be done in 20minutes (regardless of the number ofparameters, the time-to-result is thesame); the equivalent ELISA typicallytook 100 minutes to perform for a singleparameter, with ten parameters takingproportionately longer. Microarray testscould be incorporated in a fullyautomated immunoassay platform forroutine use in clinical chemistrylaboratories.

The final talk of the day was given byPeter Mackie (Yorkhill NHS Trust,Glasgow) on ‘Near patient testing -safety issues and quality control’.Peter described the explosion in therepertoire of point of care testing(POCT), or near patient testing, whichhas the potential to change dramaticallyestablished diagnostic approaches. Incases of acute infection, it is now possibleto screen for a range of bacterial and viralantigens or for inflammatory markerssuch as C-reactive protein. The prospectof utilising molecular based technologywithin this environment is now a realisticand exciting proposition. He noted thatthe major benefit of POCT is the rapidavailability of results, 24-hrs a day, andtheir influence on patient management,but then introduced a note of caution withthe observation that these tests arecurrently often performed by non-laboratory health-care workers (HCWs)under variable circumstances and may beprone to significant operator-dependenterror. He illustrated the provision of asuccessful 24 h acute point-of-carescreening system by taking an exampleinvolving the diagnosis of respiratorysyncytial virus (RSV) infections in a shortstay unit adjoining the accident andemergency department of the largepaediatric hospital. Three studies wereconducted over consecutive winterepidemics in which 2193 nasopharyngealaspirates were obtained from


Environmental and Food SafetyAspects

Chaired by Jean-Yves Maillard and MarkBailey (morning), Peter Silley (afternoon).

Gary Saylor(Center forEnvironmentalBiotechnologies,University ofTennessee,Knoxville, USA)began the next day

with a presentation on‘BioMicroElectronic sensors formonitoring environmental pollutantsin situ’. Gary introduced BioluminescentBioreporter bacterial strains containingluxCDABE transcriptional fusions toselected promoters which respond toselected environmental stimulants byexpressing the lux operon to produceeasily detectable bioluminescence. Thesewhole-cell biosensors have beendeveloped for chemical biosensingapplications e.g. for detection ofpolychlorinated biphenyls, processmonitoring and high throughputscreening. In order to utilize these strainseffectively in the environment, theorganisms must be mated with anappropriate analytical device forquantitation of the induced light responseand transmission of that data to anappropriate data logger. Reporter cellsare immobilised onto a chip using animmobilant such as alginate, the testsample allowed to flow past the chip andboth fibre optic based photon countingand in situ photomultiplier technologyhave been successfully exploited forsubsurface soil and groundwatermonitoring purposes.

More recently a 0.5 micronComplementary Metal OxideSemiconductor (CMOS) was used todevelop highly sensitive microluminatorchips for fabrication of a BioluminescentBioreporter Integrated Circuit (BBIC).The BBIC technology integrates bacterialsensing of chemical agents with aninduced light response from lux fusionsthat are quantified directly on the chip.This new microelectronic biosensortechnology can be implemented at lowcost and still retain analytical sensitivityat part per billion levels for selectedchemical agents and it may well besuitable to use this system within thehuman body to monitor such things asblood glucose levels in real-time.

Mark Bailey (NERC Centre forEcology and Hydrology, Institute ofVirology and Environmental Microbiology,Oxford) followed with a talk on‘Identification of bacteria (GMOs),their genes in relation to functionand diversity in the naturalenvironment’. Mark started by notingthat in a natural environment manydifferent microorganisms co-existed andone of the major challenges tomicrobiology was defining the role ofspecific prokaryote communities inecosystem function. Whilst we may have areasonable view of the extent of microbialdiversity, there is a need to correlate thiswith particular activities so that themicroorganisms that play a central role inbiogeochemical cycling can be identified.Over the last decade considerableadvances have been made in microbialecology by the application of molecularmethods that provide community diversitysignatures, based primarily on 16S and23S ribosomal RNA analysis. Althoughthese widely adopted approachessuccessfully report on microbialcommunity succession and allow thecomparison of diversity between sampledhabitats, they are unable to determinewhich component groups are functionallyactive. This is particularly relevant to thecommunity analysis of natural sampleswhich contain high proportions of as yetuncharacterised organisms, many ofwhich are recalcitrant to current in vitroisolation methods. Mark described thedevelopemnt of a generic method forcharacterising function based on thephysical separation of RNA (ribosomalRNA and messenger RNA) molecules thathave increased density due to theincorporation of heavy isotopes of 13C and/or 15N which. allows the identification ofpopulations of bacteria that arefunctionally active in environmentalsamples. The isotopes are provided fromlabelled sole substrates (e.g. 13C phenol).After incubation of environmentalextracts or cultures with the labelledcompound the newly synthesised “heavy”RNA is separated by density gradientcentrifugation and phylogenetic analysiscarried out following RT-PCR rRNAamplification and sequencing. It wasdemonstrated how this method wasapplied to an industrial waste watertreatment plant to determne the keyorganisms involved in the degradation ofphenolics. The approach identified anovel species which was responsible forthe majority of activity and allowed for

A Trade Show reception by thecompanies who had generouslysponsored the meeting, BD Biosciences,Don Whitley Scientific, MWG-biotech,Nanogen and Pamgene, was held beforethe conference dinner in the evening.

children <2 years old. An average of 23trained HCWs tested aspirates with theAbbott TESTPACK® RSV assay. The samematerial was also sent to the on-sitevirology laboratory for identification ofRSV and other respiratory viruses bydirect immunofluorescence. The meanperformance characteristic of POCT was:sensitivity 90%, specificity 92%, positivepredicative value 92% and negativepredictive value 92%. This was acceptablefor clinical purposes. Peter emphasisedthat the institution of reliable POCT iscomplex and his paper examined issuesrelating to training; quality control;safety; requirements for CPAaccreditation; responsibility; andnecessary controls on the scope of tests.

Peter Borriello then summed up theday’s proceedings by reiterating theenormous potential that microsystembiosensors have for rapid clinicaldiagnosis while at the same time notingthat the main problem now with nucleicacid-based systems is at the front endwhere sample preparation for subsequentPCR or hybridisation analysis is often therate determining step with regard tospeed and accuracy, with the ensuingprobe/target interaction and data read-outon the other hand being very quick. Healso noted the important points raised byPeter Mackie about the need for adequatetraining and quality control together withthe obvious cost/benefit assessments.



Ian Barker(Central ScienceLaboratory, York)spoke after thecoffee break on‘DNA-basedmicroarrays andimmunoassays

for laboratory and on-site testing infood and agriculture’. Ian first notedthe efficiency obtained with real-time PCRfor high throughput of samples (12,000samples/week) for routine analysis offoodstuffs for microbial contamination.

optimisation of processivity and reactorperformance.

Andrew Porter (Department ofMolecular and Cell Biology, University ofAberdeen and Haptogen Ltd, Aberdeen)then gave a talk on ‘Recombinantantibodies - immuno-molecules tailor-made for biochip applications?’ Hebegan with the observation that theability to select antibody fragmentsdisplayed on the surface of large numbers(>108) of different filamentousbacteriophage provided a complementarytechnology to the well-establishedselection of antibodies from hybridomas.The main advantages of thiscombinatorial library based approach formonoclonal isolation included speed;robustness and flexibility of the selectionprocess; co-isolation of the antibodygenes allowing further proteinengineering and the opportunity to selectantibodies from a range of sources. Thistechnique has allowed the isolation ofantibodies with high affinities to a widevariety of proteins, but it remained amuch greater challenge to isolateantibodies with high sensitivities to smallhapten targets (less than 1000 Da). Suchtargets included biological toxins,environmental contaminants and manydrugs where chemical detection isexpensive and time-consuming. Andrewoutlined his selection strategies to identifya number of “super-sensitive” anti-haptenantibodies, e.g., against toxins such asmicrocystin. He emphasized that whenan antibody is applied to a chip surface, itmust not only be very stable but also havea high sensitivity. For a chip format thesesmall, stable single chain antibodymolecules are ideal as a large number canbe applied to a single chip. He describedthe development of an antibody biosensorspecific for triazine herbicides that canachieve sensitivities of below 0.1 mg perlitre (100 ppt) in water samples.

Colin Dalton(Institute ofBioelectronic andMolecularMicrosystems,University ofWales, Bangor)followed with a

presentation on ‘Detection ofmicroorganisms in water byelectrorotation chip technology’. Colinstarted by explaining the principle of

electrorotation whereby a sample issurrounded by 4 electrodes which rotateand create a field strength dependent onrotation speed and the medium used.Some microorganisms rotate with thefield, others stay still and some rotate inthe opposite direction to the field. ThisAC electrokinetic technique has beenused to probe the structures of thetransmission stages of several intestinalparasites of man. Results were presentedfrom three protozoan genera,Cryptosporidium, Giardia andCyclospora, and from the nematodegenus Ascaris. Rotational spectrarecorded as a function of applied fieldfrequency revealed differences betweenviable and non-viable particles, sporulatedand unsporulated oocysts and fertilisationstate of ova. For example, viable and non-viable Cryptosporidium oocytes rotate inopposite directions under appropriateconditions. He noted that a cleanpreparation of organisms is a requirementfor this technique, but it is non-invasiveand can distinguish between living anddead organisms. The data can be analysedusing a mathematical model that can helppredict the most likely cause ofdifferences in the spectra. Johnsubsequently described how AC electro-kinetics can also be used for particlemanipulation. He then presented aselection of microelectrode designs thatcan be used for concentration,translational motion and the selectivetrapping of particles, includingdielectrophoresis where an appliedelectrical field is used to differentiallyattract living and dead cells.

Indeed portable PCR equipment for on-site testing was now beginning to beintroduced. At present lateral-flow devicesfor pathogen detection are used at pointsof food intake into the UK. He went on todescribe development work with amicrochip-based assay where probes forall quarantined potato pathogens arearrayed and he showed data to indicatethat this chip-based assay worked asproof of principle. The potato pathogens,which include viruses, bacteria and fungi,are now routinely assayed by anassortment of different methods andintroduction of the chip-based assaywould allow all to be assessed at onetime. Ian also added that the chip-basedassay allows strain differentiation to bedone easily as oligonucleotide probes canbe produced after sequence analysis of,for example, rotavirus genes and thenarrayed on a chip for strain differentiationin test samples. He ended by emphasisingthat the highly parallel chip-based assaysare fine for a small number of samples,but for high throughput analysis they maynot be ideal for reasons of cost.


After lunch, two offered papers weregiven. David Cowell (Centre forResearch in Analytical, Materials andSensor Science, University of the West ofEngland) reported on the rapidelectrochemical detection andidentification of catalase positivemicro-organisms. He noted that rapiddetection and identification of bacteriahas application in a number of fields, forexample, the food industry, environmentalmonitoring and biomedicine. He stressedthat while in biomedicine the number oforganisms present during infection isoften multiples of millions, in the otherfields it is the detection of low numbers oforganisms that is important, for example,an infective dose of Escherichia coli0157 from contaminated food is less than100 organisms. He described a rapid andsensitive technique to detect low numbersof the model organism E. coli 055 whichcombined Lateral Flow Immunoassay(LFI) for capture and amperometry forsensitive detection. Antibodies to E. coliO55 were applied to nitrocellulosemembranes to capture the bacteria asthey flowed through the membrane to anabsorbent pad. The LFI strips were placedin close contact with electrodes of aClarke cell poised at +0.7 volts for thedetection of hydrogen peroxide. Earlierresearch had shown that consumption ofhydrogen peroxide by bacterial catalaseprovided a sensitive indicator of thenumbers of aerobic and facultativeanaerobic microorganisms. Use of the LFIstrips demonstrated that the consumptionof 8mM hydrogen peroxide correlatedwith the number of microorganismspresented to the LFI strips in the range of2x101 to 2x107 cfu. Capture efficiencywas dependent on the number oforganisms applied and varied from 71%at 2x102 cfu to 25% at 2x107 cfu. Theprocedure was completed in less than 10minutes and could detect less than 10 cfucaptured from a 200 ml sample applied tothe LFI strip. The method provided proofof principle for the rapid, quantitative andsensitive detection of bacteria thatexpress catalase activity.

Kees Roest (Laboratory ofMicrobiology, Wageningen University,Netherlands) described anidentification array platform formonitoring microbial diversity inanaerobic wastewater treatmentsystems. A DNA macro array fordetection of molecular diversity in UpflowAnaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) wasdeveloped using 80-mer variable regions

of cloned and identified 16S rDNAsequences from sludge, which wereamplified and blotted onto a filter. Focuswas on the V6 region, which appeared tobe promising for identification with anarray. Kees reported that more variableregions of sequenced clones would beused to develop a multiple probe array.The developed macro array will beminiaturized to an identification DNAmicro array and used for rapid moleculardetection of microbial diversity in sludgeof wastewater treatment samples.

The final talk wasgiven by KimSapsford (Centerfor Bio/MolecularScience &Engineering, NavalResearchLaboratory,Washington, DC,

USA) on ‘An Array Biosensor forDetection of Biohazards’. Kimreminded the audience that arraybiosensors provide the possibility ofimmobilizing multiple capturebiomolecules onto a single surface andtherefore offer the exciting prospect ofmulti-analyte detection. She reported aminiaturized, fully automated, stand-alonebiosensor, based on the principle of totalinternal reflection fluorescence (TIRF)that monitors interactions betweencapture antibodies arrayed on a glassslide and binding partners in test samplesin 10 - 15 minutes. A variety of analytesincluding toxins such as cholera toxin,bacteria such as Campylobacter jejuniand viruses have been detected both inbuffer and complex matrices, such asblood and soil suspensions, withcomparable detection limits. Theinstrument she described has been usedfor real-time analysis of both specific andnon-specific binding interactions. Anumber of developments have led to aTIRF array biosensor weighing only 5.5Kg which is automated for environmental,clinical and food monitoring or biologicalwarfare agent detection.

Conclusion

The meeting was brought to a close bythe sfam President Peter Silley with asummary of his impressions. He wasgratified to see such a diversity ofscientists from different disciplines andthanked the speakers for theirpresentations. He was pleased that theapplied aspects of ‘Lab on a Chip’ had

John CooteDivision of Infection and Immunity,University of Glasgow

Due to an urgent business commitment,Martin Pearce (Detection Department, DstlPorton Down, Wiltshire) was unable to attendthe meeting to present his paper on ‘RapidDetection of Microbial Pathogens’.

been emphasized and reminded theaudience that for uptake into themainstream all the techniques andequipment had to be seen to offer seriousbenefits to the end-user whether in thehospital, veterinary, food orenvironmental sectors, but he was surethat they would now have a greaterappreciation of the range and possibilitiesof this rapidly expanding and excitingnew field.

The meeting was a very enjoyableexperience and demonstrated the range ofbiosensor applications under developmentand the position that some of them havenow obtained in the clinical, food orenvironmental fields. It was particularlyinteresting to see that biosensor detectioninvolving protein/protein interactionsseems to be keeping pace with thatinvolving nucleic acid interactions. Thecost of these systems will undoubtedly falland, whereas at present they are findingapplication in more specialised fields suchas environmental monitoring or airbornepathogen detection, it seems only amatter of time before they are applied inmore routine situations such as point ofcare procedures in hospitals, immuno-assays in clinical departments, or forroutine monitoring of food products andindustrial or water treatment plants.


Sponsored Lecture report

ACH ACADEMICYEAR, thedepartment ofPharmacy and

Biomolecular Sciences at theUniversity of Brightonorganises a Friday lunchtimeseminar programme. Dr PeterLambert from AstonUniversity was nominated byDr Jean-Yves Maillard to give apresentation to the staff and,postgraduate andundergraduate students withinthe department. Dr Lambert’stalk entitled Is Sciatica aninfection? was, he informedus, “a bit of a side-line” fromhis usual topics (antibioticresistance, infectious diseasediagnostics and computeraided drug design to name buta few), but an interesting onenevertheless as shown by thegreat turn out.

We were astounded to learnthat 40% of people in the UKare affected by back painevery year resulting in the lossof 180 million working days.Most lower back painconcerns sciatica. When wespeak of sciatica most peopleassociate this illness withectopic pressure on the sciaticnerve following disc ruptureor herniation. By a chancediscovery, Dr Lambert told thestory of how his research hasshown that microbiologicalinfections may play a role inthis disease.

Back in 1996, Dr Lambertand colleagues at the QueenElizabeth Hospital and Royal

Orthopaedic Hospital inBirmingham discovered anovel exocellular non-proteinantigen produced byStaphylococcus epidermis,which was later confirmed tobe a short-chain lipoteichoicacid, named Lipid S. Over thefollowing years, Dr Lambertand his colleagues developedan enzyme linked ELISA assayusing the Lipid S antigen forthe serodiagnosis of deep-

seated Gram-positiveinfections, which wassubsequently used to assessthe role of Staphylococus inpyogenic spondylodiscitis(vertebral disc infection to youand I). In this study, patientssuffering from suspectedsciatica were used as controlsubjects. To the surprise of DrLambert, patients allocated tothe control group showed thata remarkable 31% exhibitedelevated serum IgG antibodylevels to Lipid S. Having ruled

Is Sciatica an infection?Charlotte Hall reviews the

work of Dr Peter Lambertwhose research has shownthat microbiologicalinfections may play a role inthis painful disease

E

Charlotte HallUniversity of Brighton

Examples of Disc ProblemsNormal Disc

Degenerated Disc

Bulging Disc

Herniated Disc

Thinning Disc

Disc Degeneration withOsteophyte formation

Further reading:

■ “When Bugs strike Back” - seenext page 40

out experimental proceduresas the cause of these findings,the most obvious explanationwas that sciatica might in facthave a microbiologicalaetiology due to low virulentorganisms. Indeed, furtherevaluation of 36 patients withsciatica revealed that positivecultures (53%) could beobtained followingmicrodiscectomy, of which85% of these contained the

epidermal bacteriaPropionibacterum acnes. Sohow were these ‘skin’ bacteriatraversing to the disc fluid?The most likely explanation,we were told, is following awound to the skin e.g. aftertrauma (i.e. at the time of discherniation) or after anepidural injectionadministered in severe casesof sciatica. This may thenprovide entry of P. acnes tothe integrity of the discresulting in a chronic

inflammatory response. Again,further investigation showedthat entry from the skin wasunlikely since patients who didnot receive an epidural couldstill exhibit positive cultures.So, for the time being the DrLambert told us that ‘jury isstill out’.

Dr Lambert is now lookinginto alternative sources of P.acnes infection in thesepatients from other siteswithin the body such asmouth, gut or via the blood.Since, P. acnes is largelyassociated with severe acne,an obvious question was theassociation with acne duringadolescence and sciatica laterin life.

Over refreshments, DrLambert’s seminar provokedmuch discussion within thegroup, particularly amongstthose who have suffered fromback pain in the past!!Everyone was particularlyinterested in an up andcoming clinical trial todetermine the effect ofmicrobial treatments inpatients with sciatica, whichmay provide a moresatisfactory treatment for backpain in the future.

P.ac

nes


Alexandra Perry asks ifsciatica can now be added tothe list of diseases thoughtto be caused by aninfectious agent?

ITH THE CONTINUINGadvancement of scientifictechniques many diseases havebeen found to be microbial in

origin. The best-known example of adisease which was not originallysuspected to be caused by bacterialinfection is gastric ulcers, now known tobe caused by Helicobacter pylori.Infectious links to other conditions suchas arthritis and atherosclerosis have alsobeen proposed. Could sciatica now beadded to the list of various diseasesthought to be caused by an infectiousagent?

Sciatica is characterized by painradiating from the back into the lowerextremities caused by irritation of thesciatic nerve. Although lower back painand sciatica are some of the most

common reasons for consultation inprimary care the pathogenesis of sciaticais poorly understood (Anon, 1995).Recently elevated serum immunoglobulinand cytokine levels have been describedin patients with sciatica, raising thepossibility of a microbial aetiology. Toinvestigate this theory, researchers at theRoyal Orthopaedic Hospital, the QueenElizabeth Hospital and Aston University inBirmingham (Stirling et al., 2001) usedan enzyme linked immunoassay,developed for the diagnosis of deep-seated Gram-positive infections, to lookfor raised antibodies in patientspresenting with severe sciatica. Positiveresults were observed in 31% of patients.To follow up this preliminary finding,research went forward to examinewhether bacteria were present in discmaterial harvested during routinemicrodiscectomy operations to relievesevere sciatica. Control specimens forthis study were obtained frompatients with scoliosis. Within 7days of incubation 53% of patientswere culture positive andPropionibacterium acnes wasisolated from 84% of the positive

samples. Gram-stainedsmears of tissue samplesembedded in agarose alsoshowed Gram-positivebranching rods afterincubation (figure 1).Furthermore, P. acnes

could be seen growingfrom a section of

microdiscectomy tissue which had beensuspended in nutrient agar (figure 2). Incomparison none of the specimens fromscoliosis grew bacteria. It was thereforeproposed that low virulent micro-organisms such as P. acnes might becausing a chronic low-grade infection inthe lower intervertebral discs of patientswith sciatica. These organisms may gainaccess to the spinal disc after previousminor trauma and discs that do notproduce symptoms may becomesymptomatic following infection.

Propionibacterium acnes is a Gram-positive bacterium, best known as amember of the skin flora of man.Although previously thought of as aharmless commensal, it is increasinglybeing associated with numerousconditions; most notably with acnevulgaris, however it has also beenimplicated in endophthalmitis,sarcoidosis, prosthetic hip infections,endocarditis and osteomyelitis (Eady and

WhenbugsstrikeBACK

W


Features

References:

■ Anon (1995) Office of PopulationCensuses and Surveys - MorbidityStatistics from General Practice, 4thNational Study. Royal College of GeneralPractitioners. Dept. of Health, London. H MStationery Office.

■ Cove JH, Holland KT & Cunliffe WJ (1983)Effects of oxygen concentration onbiomass production, maximum specificgrowth rate and extracellular enzymeproduction by three species of cutaneouspropionibacteria grown in continuousculture. Journal of General Microbiology129 3327-3324

■ Eady A and Ingham E. (1994)Propionibacterium acnes - friend or foes?Reviews in Medical Microbiology 5 163-173.

■ Leyden J. J. (2001) The evolving role ofPropionibacterium acnes in acne.Seminars in Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery20 139-143.

■ Stirling A., Worthington T., Rafiq M.,Lambert P. and Elliott T. S. J. (2001)Association between sciatica andPropionibacterium acnes. The Lancet 3572024-2025

Alexandra PerryMolecular Biosciences, Aston University

microorganisms to access a site ofimmune privilege. Similarly, both the eyeand the intervertebral disc arepredominately avascular.

As stated earlier, inflammation hasbeen implicated in sciatica but the causeof this is uncertain. Could P. acnes have arole? The immune response to P. acneshas been well-characterised in acnepatients and proliferation of this organismin the pilosebaceous follicles of the skin isassociated with the production ofcytokines and other proinflammatorymolecules (Leyden, 2001). P. acnes maytherefore have a role in the initiation ormodification of the inflammatoryresponse associated with some discherniations.

Research is currently underway toinvestigate the immune response of

Further reading:

You can read more about the possible role ofP. acnes in the development of sciatica in thereport by Charlotte Hall on page 39

Ingham, 1994).The surgical technique used in the

Birmingham study used stringent aseptictechniques, however, in this and manyother instances of presumed P. acnesinfection, contamination of the sampleswith skin commensal bacteria alwaysremains a possibility. This eventuality isdifficult to disprove given the ubiquitousnature of P. acnes, but is beingapproached by using molecular typingtechniques. Genotypic methods have beenemployed to determine whether infectingstrains isolated from sciatica patientsconstitute a specific genotype incomparison to other P. acnes strains; inparticular skin commensals. Amodification of PCR called randomamplification of polymorphic DNA(RAPD) which utilises short primers (8-10bp) and a series of low stringencyannealing steps to amplify regions ofgenomic DNA has been used to type P.acnes strains. After multiple rounds ofPCR, fragments of varying size aregenerated which give a specific DNA‘fingerprint’ when separated byelectrophoresis. Strains isolated fromsciatica patients were found to becharacterized by RAPD profiles distinctfrom profiles generated from P. acnesisolated from other sources (figure 3).This supports the hypothesis that aninfectious strain of P. acnes is implicatedin sciatica and that excised disc materialis not becoming contaminated with skincommensal strains during surgery.Further study is currently beingundertaken to genotype a wider diversityof strains including those found in acnelesions.

Propionibacterium acnes producemany exocellular enzymes includinghaemolysins, lipases, proteases,hyaluronidase and phospholipase C(figure 4). These factors may wellcontribute to virulence and disc pathologyas this organism has the ability todegrade components of the extracellularmatrix and destroy host cells. Indeed,studies have shown that exocellularenzyme production by P. acnes is optimalat low oxygen concentrations (Cove etal., 1983). The low oxygen micro-environment of the intervertebral discmay therefore play a major role in theproduction of these enzymes.

In P. acnes endophthalmitis symptomstypically present months after cataractsurgery. This violation of the eye could belikened to minor trauma of theintervertebral disc which may allow

sciatica patients to P. acnes in an attemptto identify potential markers of P. acnesinfection and possible mediators ofinflammation. An antigen that could beexploited for use in an ELISA would beparticularly advantageous compared tomicrodiscectomy and subsequent cultureof disc material to confirm P. acnesinfection.

The results of this research areparticularly exciting however work is stillin its early stages and a causalrelationship between P. acnes and sciaticahas not yet been established. If furtherresearch and potential clinical trialsconfirm an association between P. acnesand sciatica, early diagnosis could lead toimproved treatment strategies such asintervention with appropriate antibioticsto modify subsequent progression of thedisorder.

Could P. acnes be to sciatica what H.pylori is to gastric ulcers - amicroorganism considered non-pathogenic found to be the causativeagent of a ‘non-infectious’ condition?

Light photomi-crograph ofGram stainedmicrodiscectomytissue showingP. acnes (x1000)

β haemolytic colonies of P. acnesgrown on blood agar

Example of RAPD profiles (labelled A, B and C, induplicate) obtained from P. acnes genomic DNA.Strains isolated from sciatica patients werepredominately profile A whereas skin isolatesfeatured across all profile types. Lanes M are1kbp molecular weight marker

Microcolonies ofP. acnes growingfrom a section ofmicrodiscectomytissue suspendedin nutrient agar

Gram-positive pleo-morphic rods of P.acnes

M A A B B M B B C C M


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The Society offers FULL members an

opportunity to give undergraduate

students of microbiology the chance to

obtain work experience during the

summer vacation. Grants can be made

available to ANY FULL member who is

able to offer a suitable undergraduate

student a work placement for a period of

up to 10 weeks during summer.

For further information visit the

website at www.sfam.org.uk

URING June and July 2002 Ihad the opportunity of workingin the Food Microbiology Unit,University of North London

(now London Metropolitan University, onproduction of anti-microbial compoundsby lactic acid bacteria (LAB) andmodulation by the environment. Lacticacid bacteria are Gram-positive non-sporing rods or cocci, aero-tolerantanaerobes and are known to produceinhibitory compounds including organicacids e.g. lactic and acetic acids andbacteriocins. The purpose of the projectwas to attempt to reproduce and clarifyan observation encountered during datageneration for development of apredictive growth model for LAB. It wassuspected that in certain environmentalconditions, one or more strains of LABmight be inhibiting others in the cocktailof strains used to inoculate the differentenvironmental conditions used to preparethe model.

There were four parts to theinvestigation. The seven strains of LABwere inoculated individually and as amixture of strains, at a concentration of104 cfu/ml, into the wells of microtitreplates containing MRS broth adjusted to30 combinations of conditionsencompassing a pH range of 4.0-6.0 andNaCl concentrations of 0.5-6.5% (w/v).This would demonstrate which strainswere able to grow in the selectedconditions.

Two specific conditions were selected,pH 5.5 with NaCl 4.5% and pH 5.5 withNaCl 6.5%. These conditions wereinoculated with each of the individualstrains of LAB and the cocktail of strainsand incubated at 60C. Samples wereregularly taken throughout an incubationperiod of 6 weeks at 60C and the LABenumerated using dilution and plate counttechniques. This would allow comparisonof the growth rates of the different strainswith each other and with the cocktail.

At 3 and 6 weeks, a kit method wasused to quantify the amount of lactic acid

Production ofanti-microbialcompounds bylactic acid bacteria(LAB) andmodulation by theenvironment

D


in samples from Experiment 2. This would demonstrate whether any

of the strains produced significantamounts of lactic acid that might beinhibitory to other strains.

At 3 and 6 weeks, samples fromExperiment 2 were applied to “lawn”plates of MRS agar made in a) water andb) MOPS buffer. These were incubated at10 and 220C. This would demonstratezones of inhibition around the drops. Ifinhibition occurred round drops on MRS /water agar, this could be due to acid orbacteriocin production, but if inhibitionoccurred on MRS / MOPS plates, then itwould be caused by bacteriocins or non-bacteriocin antibiotics, not acid, becauseof the buffering effect of the MOPS.

The pattern of growth of the individualLAB strains and the cocktail in microtitreplates was biologically sensible, in thatvisible growth took longer as the pHdecreased and the NaCl concentrationincreased. The growth rates, measured inExperiment 2, showed that 3 strains ofLAB (Lactobacillus brevis, Lb.plantarum and Carnobacteriumpisicola) had faster individual growthrates at pH 5.5 and NaCl 4.5% than thecocktail of strains, suggesting that thesestrains are inhibited in the cocktail. At6.5% NaCl, only Lb. brevis grew fasterthan the cocktail; Lb. plantarum grew atabout the same rate as the cocktail andCarn. pisicola failed to grow at all.However, only Carn. pisicola (at 4.5%NaCl) produced significant quantities oflactic acid using the kit method and noevidence of bacterocin / antibioticinhibition was observed on the lawnplates.

Although I was not able to identify theinhibitory agent in the limited timeavailable, it does seem that interactionsoccur between LAB growing in a cocktail

Carbendazin (a fungicide) and octyl-isothiazolinone (OIT - a broad spectrumbiocide), and the other a mixture ofisothiazolinone and benzamidazolederivatives.

The biocides were assessed using astandard test for resistance of surfacecoatings to mould growth, ASTM D 3273-94. This test uses an environmentalchamber with defined temperature andhumidity (280C and 98%). The paintedpanels, inoculated with a standardmixture of spores of the fungiAureobasidium pullulans, Aspergillusniger and Penicillium sp., are incubatedfor 28 days before visually assessingfungal growth according to a given scale.The test was modified to test biocideactivity against cyanobacteria. Twofilamentous cyanobacterial species,isolated from painted surfaces, were usedto inoculate the panels and the chamberwas illuminated with fluorescent lighttubes. Initial results suggest that thebiocides protect the paint against fungaland cyanobacterial growth for a month(the recommended test period). However,I plan to continue examining the panelsthroughout the next 6 months to observeany longer term effects.

The second aim of my project was tolearn some of the techniques of molecularbiology, by assisting with the project ofMSc student, Cezar Crispim. Although myundergraduate degree includes the theoryand demonstration of DNA extraction andPCR, I have never been able to participatein the practical aspects. In theDepartments of Soils and Biotechnologyof the Federal University of Rio Grandedo Sul, I extracted DNA from my owncyanobacterial and fungal cultures usingtwo different techniques and carried outPCRs with specific primers for these twomicrobial groups. I hope to be able toapply these methods for the detection ofthese two groups of microorganisms onthe painted panels in a future project.

I also learned about the routine of amicrobiology laboratory, taking my turnat preparing media, autoclaving andwashing glassware.

I wish to thank Dr. Christine Gaylardeand Cezar Crispim for their help andsupervision and, especially, the Societyfor the opportunity to carry out thisproject. The training I have received willbe very useful in my future work.

Students into Work Reports

Abigail NnaghorLondon Metropolitan University

AINTS contain various organicmaterials which act asnutrients for microorganismsand can stimulate microbial

growth both in-can and on the dry paintfilm. This seriously compromises theadhesion and durability of the paint, aswell as its decorative function. The majorgroups of microorganisms involved indeterioration of the dry paint film arebacteria, fungi, algae and cyanobacteria,all of which are able to survive underconditions of stress (drying andrehydration cycles, UV exposure). Theobjective of this short project was to testthe efficiency of two biocides used toprotect the paint film, one a formulationcontaining Diuron (a herbicide),

Queli Viviana da SilvaPorto Alegre, Brazil

Microbialdeterioration ofpaints

P

and this could have importantconsequences if predictive models forLAB are prepared using a mixture ofstrains. During my time in the FoodMicrobiology Unit, I gained many skillsand experience in laboratory work, muchmore than from my normal practicalclasses. Overall, my placement allowedme to gain valuable work experience in aresearch environment, which I foundchallenging but enjoyable and I havedeveloped skills in experimental planning,independent and team work, which will bevaluable in the future.

I would like to express my sincereappreciation to sfam for giving me thisopportunity. Many thanks to myplacement supervisor, Dr Jane Sutherland,for guidance and assistance during theproject and special thanks also to Dr AlanVarnam for his help in gaining thisplacement and to Richard Marshall for hissupport throughout my course.

Ab

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Left to right:Queli, ChristineGaylarde andCezar Crispim


The President’s Fund Reports

The President’s Fund provideslimited grants to ALL membersto assist them to attend scien-tific meetings or workshopsrelated to their area of work.Awards are made at the solediscretion of the HonoraryPresident.Please note that this Fund isopen to members of allages! It is not only our studentmembers who require our help.Senior microbiologists oftenfind difficulty in funding atten-dance at meetings, and thePresident’s Fund is there to helpthem. If YOU are in this posi-tion, why not apply to thePresident’s Fund?

Guidelines1 The applicant must have been amember for at least a full subscription year before the eventto be attended and must be a fullypaid-up member at the time ofapplication.

2 A successful applicant cannotre-apply to the Fund for three yearsfrom the date of the award.

3 Preference will be given toapplicants who are contributing tothe meeting they wish to attendand/or are unable to obtain fundselsewhere.

4 Application forms, togetherwith an abstract of any intendedcontribution to be made, must bereceived by the Society Office notless than six weeks before the dateof the event.

5 Student member applicantsmust enclose a letter of supportfrom their supervisor or head ofdepartment on the letterhead oftheir institution.

6 The maximum grant available isnormally £500.

7 Under exceptional circumstancesthis maximum may be exceeded.

Applications for a grant fromthis Fund MUST be made onthe official applicationform, available ONLY fromthe Society Office.

Am I eligible -can I apply?

Once again, our members have used a President’s Fund grant to attend a variety of meetings and conferences around the globe.To find out how you could benefit from this valuable award check out the panel below or visit our website.

InternationalSymposium onWaterbornePathogens Lisbon,Spain, September22nd - 25th 2002

The conference openedwith a general session onMonday September 23rdintroducing the latestinformation on emerginginfectious diseases in watersupplies. This was veryinformative ensuring thecorrect issues were beingaddressed across the worldand not just the UK. Riskassessments were discussed indetail and the impact ofmicrobial failures werehighlighted.

The next important sectionwas the current detectionmethods used and theireffectiveness. The methodsranged from DNAMicroarrays to detectmultiple pathogens in waterto high performance liquidchromatography. Many of themethods discussed weretargeting the organismCryptosporidium. The dayended with a historicalwaterworks tour in Lisbon.The tour included the 17th -18th century aqueduct; oneof Lisbon’s landmarks, and itwas an impressive example ofhydraulic engineering as wellas a reservoir with an interiorwaterfall that provides the

staging for various culturalevents.

Tuesday September 24thinvolved highlighting thesource and the occurrence ofthe pathogens and whatprotective measures have beentaken. A very goodpresentation was given by DrGary O’Neill from YorkshireWater, he examined the linkbetween Cryptosporidiosisand Cryptosporidium indrinking water in Yorkshire.Dr Keith Osborne fromUnited Utilities Ltd (UK)discussed WatershedProtection in the wake of aCryptosporidiosis outbreak.

The final morning was themost interesting for amicrobiologist particularlywhen emerging and re-emerging pathogens wereexamined. The EnvironmentalSurveillance Unit in the UKpresented work on Crohn’sDisease, Johne’s Disease,Mycobacterium avium sub-species, paratuberculosis andwater. Drinking water was thenot the only form ofdiscussion but so waswastewater treatment. Acertain study was carried outin Greece that showedSalmonella maybe an issuefor public health inrecreational waters if thecorrect sewage treatment wasnot used. The conferenceended on the topic ofdisinfection, which is one ofthe most important steps indrinking water treatment. Ifthe disinfection of drinkingwater was effective at all timesthen in theory there would beno forms of waterbornedisease. Unfortunately inreality there are many sourcesthat can interrupt theeffectivity of disinfection andone such example maybe tobiofilm formation in thetreatment processes. This areaof research was of personalinterest because my PhD

research involves assessingbiofilm formation on filtermedia within rapid gravityfilters.

I thoroughly enjoyed theconference and spoke to manyexperts regarding my PhD.Lisbon is a beautiful city andthe seafood was excellent!

The 13thInternationalPathogenicNeisseriaConference, Oslo,Norway, September1st - 6th 2002

The Conference was held atthe Oslo KongressenterKolkets Hus BA. Thewelcoming reception providedthe opportunity to chat withcolleagues and friends, manyof whom were not seen sincethe last meeting held inGalverston, Texas, two yearsbefore.

The conference was openedby the Norwegian Minister ofHealth who expressed hispleasure at having such aprestigious meeting attendedby scientists from all over theworld to tackle a problem thatis currently causing manydeaths in Norway. He hopedthat a new vaccine developedto meet their needs will besuccessful. A session on thepathogenesis of Neisseriastarted the conference withnew discoveries such assignalling functions of thepilus that modify the host cell,presented by M So (OregonHealth and Science University,Portland, Oregon, USA).

Monday afternoon hadpresentations on clinicalaspects and host defence.

Palwinder KaurUniversity College London


Some exciting new workdescribing the stimulation ofToll-like receptors TLR2 and 4by Neisserial PorB thatmodifies bacterial and hostcell interactions was presentedby Peter Van der Ley fromUtrecht University, TheNetherlands.

Brian Greenwood(London School of Hygeineand Tropical Medicine, UK)headed the vaccine session onTuesday with an eloquent andinformative presentation.Brian traced the spread ofmeningococcal disease backthrough historical recordsand included data from theSudan that many were notfamiliar with. Mark LaForce(Programme for AppropriateTechnology for Health, FerneyVolytaire, France) followedwith a description of theMeningitis Vaccine Project(MVP) funded by Bill andMelinda Gates for thedevelopment and introductionof new vaccines for preventionof infectious diseases in thedeveloping world. The sessionfinished with a talk onNeisseria lactamica, acommensal organism, as avaccine for meningococcaldisease by Karen Reddin(CAMR, Salisbury, UK). Karenpresented data on animalsvaccinated with this organismthat were protected againstmeningococcal bacteraemia,but in the absence ofmeasurable serum bactericidalactivity (SBA) that isdependent on complementkilling. SBA has been used asthe “gold Standard” for thedevelopment and introductionof vaccines since the late1960’s when Goldschneiderdemonstrated a correlationbetween protection againstdisease and SBA activity.

One of the great successesof this biannual meeting is thetwo hours allocated to posterviewing that allows them to befully appreciated. The sessionfollows immediately afterlunch where coffee and cakeswere served.

My post doc, KirstenClow, and myself presentedtwo posters on our recentfindings in the development ofa group B meningococcalvaccine using conformationalpeptide mimics ofcarbohydrate epitopes asvaccine candidates. Two anti-lipooligosaccharide (LOS)antibodies with differentepitopes were used to screenphage libraries displayingrandom cyclic peptides toidentify epitope mimics. Someof these peptides successfullyelicit antibody responses tomeningococcal LOS and weare currently setting up assaysto test their protectivefunction. The posters receivedinterest from many delegates,which included colleaguespursuing similar strategies.The day finished with asession on surface structuresthat included the crystalstructure of the OpcA outermembrane protein by JeremyDerrick from UMIST,Manchester UK. The structureallowed a testable model forits adhesion to proteoglycanto be tested towardsunravelling its biological role.Afterwards we were invited toa reception at Oslo city hall;an impressive building wherethe Nobel prizes are awardedwith splendid views of theharbour and fjord beyond.The Mayor of Oslo welcomedus to his city and wished us anenjoyable and successful visit,and gave us a tour of the cityhall. Chilled champagne wassipped accompanied withstrawberries andcream...delightful!

Mark Achtman (Max-Planck Institut fürInfektionbiologie, Berlin,Germany) one of the greatestauthorities on theepidemiology of pathogensgave a scintillatingpresentation. He began hispresentation on serogroup Ameningococcal diseaseemphasising the prevalence inChina and adding with humourthat this is an untapped

market for the vaccinemanufacturers, as more than25% of the world’s populationis Chinese, and they arewealthy! He followed with theepidemiology of Helicobacterpylori which is carried by50% of the world’s populationand can cause chronic gastricdisease. The amazingconclusion of his study wasthat when humans weregrouped according to thestrain of H.pylori carried theyconfirmed the spread ofmankind across the world, aswell as separating populationsaccording to their religion -remarkable and gripping stuff.He certainly had me hangingon his every word. Themorning ended with a sessionon epidemiology and antibioticresistance, two importanttopics in disease preventionand management. In theafternoon there was a choiceof several sightseeing toursand I opted for a boat cruisearound the fjord, which turnedout to be perfect in the warm,late Autumn sunshine.

On Thursday morning therewas a session on genome andgene expression in the whichincluded post genomictechnologies including DNAmicroarrays. A choice of fourworkshops followed, whichincluded discussion of theW135 epidemic currentlyoccurring in the sub-SaharanMeningitis belt that wasdeemed by many to be a greatsuccess. The conferencedinner that evening providednot only a superb meal butentertainment and dancingwith some traditionalNorwegian songs thrown in.

The second half of thevaccine session ended theconference on a high notewith an excellent presentationfrom Martin Maiden(University of Oxford, UK)describing the impact of theconjugate group C vaccineintroduced in the UK inNovember 1999 on carriageorganisms. The Neisserialcommunity had anticipated

that the group C organismscausing disease would switchtheir capsular polysaccharideto a non-vaccine serogroup.However, the meningococcusnever ceases to amaze us andit didn’t let us down on thisoccasion. From a preliminaryanalysis of the data justcollated it appeared thatcarried organisms hadsuccessfully overcome vaccineprotection by mutating to acapsule nul mutant that isacapsulate. This resembles theacapsulate commensal,N.lactamica that very rarelycauses disease.

The talks I have highlightedare my personal reflectionsthat stimulated variousdiscussions with mycolleagues. Overall, themeeting was an outstandingsuccess and I would like tothank sfam for a generousgrant from the President’sFund that made this trippossible. It is not often thatscientific conferences areopened by the country’sHealth Minister and delegatesare invited to a civic receptionby the mayor of the city!

Risk ModellingTraining Courseon Animal Healthand Food SafetyLes Leches, FranceSeptember 2nd -13th 2002

The course was divided intotwo self-contained parts, eachrunning for a full businessweek in a private residence ata small village, Les Leches, afew hours from Paris. Inaddition to myself fromAustralia, attendees camefrom England, Ireland, Spain,Canada (Quebec), USA,Switzerland and Belgium.

B M CharalambousMedical Microbiology,University College London RoyalFree Campus


President’s Fund Reports

There were a total of 10attendees for week one andseven of us went on tocomplete week two - by whichtime we had all become goodfriends. We were billited inone of two gítes a few minutesaway by car. Interestingly,none of the attendees werestrictly microbiologists;professions ranged fromveterinary through to generalmedicine and pharmacy, andbio-engineering for myself.

In addition to the lectures amany printed class notes weremade available, together witha copy of the text RiskAnalysis by David Vose ofDavid Vose Consultancy. Alllectures were delivered by MrVose, sometimes informallystructured but neverthelessintense. Generally, acommunal breakfast at 08.00was followed promptly bylectures, lunch, a shortafternoon tea-break, andlectures or tutorials until18.30 to 19.00. There was agreat disparity in bothmathematical and computerskills within the group whichensured plenty of questionsand discussion, and beingslightly more mathematicallyminded as a bio-engineer than

the average attendee, itresulted in a good pace for mepersonally.

In week one material on theprinciples of risk assessment,including managment,communication and modellingbasics, was followed with anintroduction to importantaspects of probability,sampling and stochasticprocessess. A basic level ofskill in Microsoft® Excel wasrequired. In quantifying risk,this software together with@RISK (pronounced “at risk”)- or other commerciallyavailable software such asCrystal Ball - is used to builda mathematical risk modelthat is then used to simulatesolutions.

In week two, emphasis wasput on increasing the degreeof knowlege of modellingtechniques, an understandingof uncertainty, an introductionto dose-response modellingand applications toassessment of risk with foods.This used notions familiar tothose in PredictiveMicrobiology. Illustrativeapplications and workingexamples were realistic andhighly practical. It becamevery evident that in tackling

questions of risks andexposure there is a real needfor both a multi-disciplinaryunderstanding and for aspecialized, critical input.Team members of such a riskanalysis group need to be ableto fully communicate asgeneralists and specialists.However, the most importantinsight I gained during thecourse, which I feel sure wasshared by my colleagues, wasthat a shift in thinking isnecessary in our own andallied professions. There is noone solution to a problem, butrather a distribution of likelyand unlikely outcomes. Thepractical upshot is that rareevents can and do sometimeshappen as a matter of coursedespite the best intentions ofthe designer or technician.Such rare events are rare andthere is often too small a dataset for analysis, especially ifthese rare events are put downto human error. Risk analysiswould seem especiallyimportant therefore inassembly of bio-statistics forbiological and microbiologicalprocesses.

Overall I enjoyed thiscourse very much and wouldrecommend it. I would also

recommend some priorprepartion in computer skillsand a reading of statistics -especially the differencesbetween the classical and themore recent Baysianapproaches. I hope to cementthe insights and practicalskills I gained from the coursethrough applications andrefereed publications. I hoperisk analysis will be seen toaid the recent momentum inhelping the shift inmicrobiology from a largelyqualitative to a morequantitative science.

I am very grateful to sfam,and The President’s Fund forhelping to finance myattendance at this course.

Could YOUbenefit?The President’s Fund is opento members of all ages.

For further information seethe panel on page 44 or visitthe website at :

www.sfam.org.uk

Further reading: http://www.pasteur.fr/recherche/RAR/RAR2001/Ibc-en.html

Professor Pascale Cossart of the PasteurInstitute, Paris presented a Lecture at the JohnInnes Centre, Norwich, UK entitled “Theinfection by the bacterial pathogen Listeriamonocytogenes: from molecular, cellularand genomic data to pathophysiology”.

The Lecture was attended by approximately200 delegates from across the Norwich ResearchPark who heard an excellent summary of herresearch which was accessible to students andspecialists alike. Professor Cossart explainedhow they have focused on the study of bacterialentry into cultured cells and in the host in vivo,on the study of intra- and intercellularmovements, of the regulation of virulence geneexpression, and on the identification of newvirulence genes and on the comparison of thesequences of the genomes of L. monocytgenesand L. innocua.

Pasteur InstituteLecture

A scientist has claimed thatsome of Britain’s laboratorieswere infiltrated by Iraqiscientists in the run-up to theGulf War. Dr Joseph Selkon, aleading Oxford microbiologist,told BBC Radio 4 that theinfiltration was discoveredafter he became suspiciousabout one Iraqi researchapplicant. His suspicionssparked extra security checks,which revealed that leadingmicrobiology laboratories hadbeen targeted by Baghdad. Further reading:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2483419.stm

Iraquisinfiltrated UKgerm labs

K R (Ken) DaveyUniversity of Adelaide, Australia


Books

Not a member?Visit www.sfam.org.uk to read aboutthe many benefits of joining the UK’soldest microbiological societiey, oremail Julie Wright at [email protected] more information. To join us complete the applicationforms on pages 49 and 50

We needREVIEWERS!

Would you like to review a book andhave your review published inMicrobiologist? There are a numberof books available, a selection ofwhich is detailed below. Please emailthe Editor of Microbiologist at:[email protected] stating whichbook you wish to review and in returnfor your efforts you can keep thebook. More titles are being sent to theSociety on a regular basis so if there isnothing that grabs your interest in thecurrent selection, email the Editor.

Dictyostelium Evolution, CellBiology, and the Development ofMulticellularity Richard H. Kessin

E. coli, Gene Expression ProtocolsPeter E. Vaillancourt

E. coli, Shiga Toxin Methods andProtocols Dana Philpott and FrankEbel

Essential Fungal Genetics David Moore, LilyAnn Novak Frazer

Fungi in BioremediationG.M. Hadd.

How Scientists Explain DiseasePaul Thagard

Industrial Microbiology, AnIntroduction Michael J. Waites, Neil L.Morgan, John S. Rockey and GaryHigton

Magical Mushrooms, MischeviousMoldsGeorge W. Hudler

Medical Microbiology, A Guide toMicrobial Infections: Pathogenesis,Immunity, Laboratory Diagnosisand Control David Greenwood,Richard C.B. Slack and John F.Peutherer

Notes on Medical MicrobiologyMorgan C. Timbury, A. ChristineMcCartney, Bishan Thakker andKatherine N. Ward

PCR Detection of MicrobialPathogens Edited by Konrad Sachseand Joachim Frey

Viral Vectors for Gene Therapy,Methods and ProtocolsCurtis A. Machida

Bergey’s Manual ofSystematic Bacteriology(2001)

Editor-in-Chief: George M. Garrity.Vo1. 1 edited by David R. Boone andRichard W. Castenholzpp. 721 + xxi ISBN 0-387-98771-1£ 68.50/$99.00 Berlin: Springer-Verlagreviewed by Max Sussman

UST OVER A CENTURY AGO, F D Chester published hisDeterminative Bacteriology(1901), which turned out to be

the forerunner of Bergey’s Manual ofDeterminative Bacteriology. By the time thefirst edition of Bergey’s Manual waspublished, in 1923, its editors judgedChester’s book as “of very little assistanceto the student”. The one memorableaspect of Chester’s pioneering efforts thatsurvived was “Determinative” in the title ofBergey’s Manual. Finally, even that gestureto memory disappeared in 1984 from thefirst edition of Bergey’s Manual ofSystematic Bacteriology; though“Determinative” survived in the title of themuch shorter 9th edition of Bergey’sManual of Determinative Bacteriology. Thetraditional work had undergoneasymmetric fission with the separation ofthe determinative aspects of Bergey’sManual from its systematic sibling.

At first glance, the first and secondeditions of the determinative Manual lookreassuringly similar. Readers who find theirway quickly, perhaps by way of the indexof scientific names, to their chosen genusmay notice only whatever advances havetaken place in the systematics of the genusduring the inter-edition time span. Morecareful examination reveals a massivetransformation; systematic bacteriology haschanged for ever. The departure is fromthe phenotypic classification of old tophylogenetic relatedness based on itsobjective measurement. This depends onsequence analysis of the 16S RNA of thesmall ribosomal subunit as derived fromthe DNA sequence that determines it. Thechange might well be termed the ‘WoeseTransformation’.

Happily the changes are reflected in thegrowth of the introductory chapters from34 pages in the first edition to 166 pagesin the present edition. This is a necessary

J

development to allow a full understandingof the changes that have been wrought.The reading of these generally well-writtenintroductory chapters is essential for theproper understanding and use of the newedition. Garrity and Holt’s chapter on “TheRoad Map to the Manual” is exactly whatit says it is and at its end is a helpfulalphabetic table of genera with their phyla,classes and their group number as in the9th edition of Bergey’s Manual ofDeterminative Bacteriology. This is followedby a most interesting taxonomic outline intabular form of the Archaea and bacteria,which shows the order in which thedomains, phyla, classes, orders, familiesand genera will appear when the Manualis complete. The final column of thealphabetical table of genera gives thevolume number of the Manual in whicheach taxonomic entity will appear whenthe Manual is completed; there are to beanother four volumes.

The volume reviewed here contains thesystematic account of the whole DomainArchaea, which includes the Crenarchaeotaand the Euryarchaeota. The burgeoningknowledge about the systematics of theArchaea becomes clear from the increaseof more than 100 pages devoted to whatis now a Domain since the previous editionof the Manual. The classification of theArchaea is much more detailed than waspreviously possible and, reassuringly, anumber of names persist though notalways at their previous taxonomic level.The beginning of the Domain Bacteria isrepresented by Phyla BI to BXIII, whichinclude most notably the themophilicbacteria and the cyanobacteria.

It is a great pity that there is no generalindex to allow rapid access to the detailand terminology of the introductorychapters. All said, however, though themanual has developed greatly, its standardof excellence remains unchallenged. Onelooks forward to the appearance of thefollowing volumes.


Books

BD Peptone TechnicalManual

B D Diagnosistic Systems

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Further information:visit http:// www.bd.com.

addressed. Product by product descriptionsare provided, with each descriptioncontaining data on physical, chemicalanalysis and amino acid distribution, aswell as detail on the product’s mostcommon applications. Most product pagesalso display growth curve diagrams,showing how the growth of five commonorganisms was affected by use of theproduct.

Would you like to review abook and have your reviewpublished in Microbiologist?

Then see the panel on the previous page.

Joint meeting of International Biodeterioration &Biodegradation Society (IBBS) and the International

Biodeterioration Research Group (IBRG)

Management & Controlof Microorganisms

September 15 - 18, 2003, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

Deadlines June 30th for early registration

June 30th for abstracts

For further information, visit:

www.biodeterioration.org/meetings.htm

or email Dr Joanna Verran at:[email protected]

FEMS Young Scientists Grants are available for this meeting

■ Students: £100■ IBBS members: £200■ Non IBBS/academic: £300■ IBRG members: £300

Registration Rates■ Non IBRG/industry £350■ Day rate £150■ Tour and buffet £35■ Conference dinner £50

This international event brings togetheracademia and industry to discuss problemsand solutions in the control of microorganismsacross a range of processes and environments.In general, each half day session has beenplanned by one of the two groups. Speakerswill outline the range of environments inwhich undesirable microorganisms are present,the diversity of the microorganisms, and themodes of growth in which they may be found.Novel and existing control methods will also beintroduced. Offered papers will supplementthe sessions and posters are also welcomed.Presenters will be invited to submit papers toJournal of International Biodeterioration &Biodegradation The meeting will enableworkshops, small group meetings and socialactivities to ensure maximum participation ofattendees. It is intended that the conference

will prove particularly attractive to youngscientists. Funding from FEMS will enable theattendance of a number of such scientists.Two events have been planned with this groupof delegates in mind: a poster presentationsession coupled with a reception and prizes forthe best 3 posters, and a careers workshop.Offered papers will be incorporated into theprogramme, with parallel sessions as necessary.

The social programme commences on Mondayevening with a tour of Manchester and willend with a buffet at a local club/restaurant.The poster session on Tuesday evening willencourage more interaction betweenpresenters and delegates. The careersworkshop and conference dinner onWednesday evening complete the socialprogramme.


Bioengineering (BE)

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Food Safety and Technology (FT)

Infection, Prevention and Treatment (IPT)

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Forename(s): Academic qualifications:

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BD Cell Culture MediaBD Cell™ MAb Media

21 Between Towns RoadCowleyOxford OX4 3LYTel: 01865 748844Fax: 01865 717313www.bd.com

BD, BD Logo and BD Cell are trademarks of Becton, Dickinson and Company. Difco is a trademark of Difco Laboratories, a subsidary of Becton, Dckinson and Company. ©2002 BD.

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RELIA

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PR

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IAALL YOU NEED FOR

CONVENIENT, SAFEAND EASY TO USE● Our new ReadyBags provide large volume broths

and diluents with quality guaranteed.

● Packed in boxes of four 3 litre bags, they are easily connected to gravimetric diluters or peristalic pumps.

● They are compact and easy to carry and store.

● The empty bag is simply disposed of with other laboratory waste.

FULL RANGE OF PLATE AND BOTTLED MEDIAOur comprehensive range of poured plates is prepared under Class 100 conditions in a temperature and humidity controlled environment. We offer a wide variety of volumesand formats to meet all your bottled media requirements - available in batches upto 250 litres.

QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE GUARANTEEDEach batch is performance tested before release and Quality Control Certificates canbe provided for all media.

FULLY FLEXIBLE SERVICEOur flexible ordering service allows you to amend your standing order to meetchanging requirements.

For a copy of our ReadyBags information sheet, or for further details of anyproducts from the Oxoid Prepared Media Service contact:

Fiona McCrae, Oxoid Ltd, Wade Road, Basingstoke, Hants RG24 8PW. Tel: +44 (0) 1256 841144 Fax: +44 (0) 1256 329728

Email: [email protected] www.oxoid.com

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