News & Photos

Good Slime Vs. Bad Slime

Drs. Brent Peyton and Robin Gerlach of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, the Center for Biofilm Engineering and Thermal Biology Institute at MSU are interested in microbes and complex groups of bacteria known as “biofilms” living in underground waste disposal sites and how they may play a role in preventing heavy metals, such as chromium, and radionuclides, such as uranium, from contaminating clean groundwater nearby. There are other ways to slow or stop this dispersion, but they involve pumping the contaminants to the surface or the introduction of other toxic chemicals. By harnessing naturally existing microbes, Peyton and Gerlach hope to provide the basis for a less invasive, yet effective bioremediation strategy.

Microbial biofilms are communities of bacteria attached to a surface in an aqueous environment.
These bacteria secrete a gel-like substance that “glues” them together. These biofilms can degrade toxins or become a thin reactive coating on underground soil particles that can act as a physical and chemical barrier to prevent seepage. As noxious waste is carried by groundwater into this “biofilm”, the bacteria changes the chemistry to a less toxic and mobile form, trapping pollutants in place and protecting clean groundwater nearby. Peyton and Gerlach have successfully shown that bacteria already naturally present in the sediment of Department of Energy waste sites can do this. The bacteria can be grown in the lab by simply feeding them sugar water or even vinegar. Unfortunately, understanding the complex interactions of bacteria and contaminants deep underground is much more difficult. While using natural bacteria to clean up environmental hazards, such as gasoline and oil spills, is much more common than it was 15 years ago, usage for remediation of heavy metals and radionuclides is still relatively new. With continued support from the Department of Energy, Peyton and Gerlach, who were both hired with Montana NSF EPSCoR support, plan to pursue their research further before trying this on a large scale.