Overview of macroscopic and microscopic images of wild-type biofilms of the species Bacillus subtilis, and various plasma reactors as a potential inactivation measure for biofilm control. © DLR: All rights reserved.
25 October 2022
At the first symposium of the young German Society for Biological Radiation Research (jDeGBS) in Schöntal, Erika Muratov, PhD student in the Aerospace Microbiology Group, received the presentation award in the category "Radiobiology of non-ionizing and high LET-radiation". Mrs Muratov presented factors which are decisive for the survival of biofilms after plasma treatment and compared this innovative technology with commercial sterilization methods such as UV-C radiation.
Biofilms are highly resistant consortia composed of microorganisms embedded in a protective and self-formed matrix. These microbial communities are found almost everywhere and sterilization is extremely difficult. One promising method of control is the use of plasma technology.
At the German Astrobiological Society (DabG) conference in Bremen, Katharina Runzheimer, also member of the DLR Microbiology group, won the best presentation award for her talk on the cultivation of aquatic habitats in the Atacama Desert. The research group analyzes extreme terrestrial sites to learn more about the limits of life on Earth. To do this, microorganisms are transferred from their habitat to the laboratory and cultivated. As part of her doctoral thesis, Katharina Runzheimer studied lakes in the Atacama Desert in Chile within the large-scale cultivation project "MultiKulti" (https://www.multikultivierung.de/) and in cooperation with the Leibniz Universität Hannover and international cooperation with the Chilean universities Universidad Austral de Chile and Universidad de la Frontera. The lakes are located at altitudes of about 4000 meters above sea level and have, among other things, high salinity and increased UV radiation. Organisms from such extreme locations have developed unique adaptation mechanisms in their evolution, which humans can exploit in biotechnological research.
The High-altitude lake Laguna Verde located in South America © DLR: All rights reserved.