Biotouch

The need of bacterial identifications in the paper industry?

2009-07-24T07:40:00.001-07:00

IM has discussed about alternative methods for the detection of hazardous or harmful bacteria with Dr. Elias Hakalehto.

It is most important to know the pathogens which will appear in patient samples. Clinical microbiologists shall know who are the enemies of the ill people: their metabolic capabilities, antibiotic resistence patterns etc. Their overall features are easy to find from literature or internet whenever the name of the species is known. This identification can be performed by selective cultivations on agar plates or in PMEU incubator, and further tests like microscopic examinations, API ID systems, immunological tests and/or PCR can be done to confirm the basic identification.

Paper mill is definitely another challenge for microbiologist. In some (relatively rare cases) the names of microorganisms are important to know: if the product shall have high hygiene quality (like LPB and other food-grade cartonboards) or questions about bioterrorism have been arisen (spore-forming Bacillus anthracis as an example). The occurrence of Legionella pneumophila is also a risk in the waste water treatment of paper industry today. Selective cultivations, either on plates or in PMEU, are the solid solutions for continuous microbiological control in those cases. PMEU is preferred because its speed (hours, compared to days with colony count analyses).

Papermakers shall focus more on the metabolic activities than the names of bacteria which they are living with in paper mills, however. Continuous inoculation of the paper production processes by contaminants, delivered with incoming lots of starches, mineral fillers, raw water, dry pulp etc. shall be controlled to avoid spoilage (amylolytic activity as an example), biofilm and slime growth, tastes and odours, spots and colours in the product etc. Because the wide range of bacterial species and their origin from the nature itself, clinical methods do not suit very well for this monitoring. There is no time to start labourous cultivations, pure cultures and identifications when the bacterial input continues day and night, "7/24". PMEU seems to be an excellent tool to check the basic features of process populations, their biocide resistence patterns included.

One important fact must also be taken into account. There are a lot of harmful microbes which actually cannot be cultivated on agar at all. One example are certain filamentous bacteria which may cause biofilm layers into the processes. They can be cultivated in some broths, however, but the usage of the original samples as the growth medium is the best way to detect them all. This can be done with ordinary mb laboratory equipment or with PMEU incubator.

Identification of bacterial species is still needed when the mapping of contamination routes into the processes is the subject of the study. IM will discuss about the microbiological mapping in his next posts (please see http://industrymicrobiologist.blogspot.com/).

Testing E71 photo delivery from ChemBio 09

2009-06-08T07:15:00.000-07:00

I'm testing the delivery of pics to this blog. The picture comes from a brochure I grasped during my visit to BioChem in Helsinki May29, 2009. I'd been invited by Industrial Microbiologist. Below is his blog from the event.

IM wrote, "There was a certain drop in the number of visitors, speakers and companies with exhibition desks in the annual Congress "BioChem" in Helsinki, 27.-29.5.2009. It was a pity to see that a lot of paper industry-associated companies did not arrive to show their products. The depression of global economy was very easy to sense. After all: there were still active participants left, eg. the novel company SAMPLION Ltd. which is now distributing PMEU system for all areas of microbiological control."

Latest post by "Industrial Microbiologist"

2009-06-07T04:40:00.000-07:00

After a most busy period in May 2009, IM would like to write something (partly because his insomnia - a common symptom during light & bright Nordic summer nights) to the readers of his blog.

Several seminars for the rise of Nordic forest industry have arranged and will be arranged before Finland "will be closed" for summer holidays. - This is, by the way, a common feature of Finnish lifestyle, and easy to understand: you shall first work in dark and rain for months, the temperature drops well below 0 oC, and you should try to be active all through the winter. But when the summer comes, everybody will wake up again and "see a light at the end of a tunnel" (which was the title in the annual meeting of Finnish Paper Engineer's Association). And then, during the summer months, citizen tend to move to their summer cottages and villas to just rest and collect forces to tolerate the next winter..

Back to the topic:

There was a certain drop in the number of visitors, speakers and companies with exhibition desks in the annual Congress "BioChem" in Helsinki, 27.-29.5.2009. It was a pity to see that a lot of paper industry-associated companies did not arrive to show their products. The depression of global economy was very easy to sense. After all: there were still active participants left, eg. the novel company SAMPLION Ltd. which is now distributing PMEU system for all areas of microbiological control.

Positive attitudes were obvious also in the annual "Summer Summit" by AEL, the major education company for adult professionals, paper industry ones included.

What will happen next? A conference, discussing of future forecasts of forest industry, will be held in the middle of June in Jyväskylä, Finland. After that the annual PIRA congress will be held in Barcelona, Spain, in October.

If only the paper industry research will be activated again..It is, of course, a question of money, but, after all: to leave brilliant Finnish researchers without work is really a vast of excellence. It has be proven several times that the rebuilding of research groups after a depression is a much harder work than to start those activities from zero. It would therefore be better to keep such organisations in work over the bad periods.

IM is looking forward to the next Autumn! A most interesting thing to see what are the forecasts of Nordic P&P industry when the summer is over!

Local Harvest / Farmers Markets / Family Farms / CSA / Organic Food

2009-05-23T02:05:00.000-07:00

Local Harvest / Farmers Markets / Family Farms / CSA / Organic Food: "The best organic food is what's grown closest to you. Use our website to find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies. Want to support this great web site? Shop in our catalog for things you can't find locally!"

The future of P&P industry?

2009-03-17T11:28:00.001-07:00

IM is wondering, what will the future of P&P be like.

Referring his ideas, five major topics are needed:

1 PRODUCT: you shall have some product which is really needed among customers. An example: LPB (everybody will buy milk and juice in carton packages every day during her/his lifetime).

2 PERSONNEL: persons on all levels of the company, interested to sell good products.

3 MARKET: the only question: are the customers well aware about your product? If not, why?

4 RESEARCH: R&D in P&P is not a region of "sunset". A lot can be done to improve the quality of products, production etc. It would be possible to find even new products: why not to sell motor oil in LPB containers?

5 DEVELOPMENT. This is the most difficult issue. R&D is interested to develop new ideas but the economists do not see any forecasts for the innovations - why?

- O.K. IM is just a microbiologist and do not understand the global economy. He is still asking, however: where is the development and optimistic forecasts in P&P industry?

IM will also ask: are the Asian people more enthusiastic to develop P&P industry? Not only economically but also in their minds?
POSTED BY JUHA V. MENTU AT 11:01 AM 0 COMMENTS
LABELS: CHINA GLOBAL, DEVELOPMENT, MARKET, PERSONNEL, PRODUCT, RESEARCH

Challenges of Biotech

2009-02-09T10:54:00.001-08:00

IM will refer the excellent book "The Biotech Investor" by Tom Abate (Owl Books, 2003, New York) again. IM also tries to reserve his time to read it through, no matter it is a dense collection of biotech and marketing facts.

In the preface of this book Tom Abate says:

"Biotechnology is an experimental field. Only a handful of of biotech companies currently have products on the market. The vast majority of biotech firms run at a loss during long developmental cycles aimed at proving their founding thesis. Experiments take time, and they often fail. Even when experiments have been done, and their results analyzed and presented at scientific meetings, biotech medicines undergo an excruciating process of regulatory review the can lead to approval, rejection or demands for more testing...In biotech time, development horizons strech for years, even decades."

This is familiar for every modern biotech researchers. Dr. Abate refers medicine research but relatively similar problems may arise when a novel microbiological analyse method is the subject of the research. Approval is then depending not on the health of the customers but the potential markets (IM's opinion). IM still thinks that such a development task can be fulfilled in only years, but marketing may be a challenging task, indeed.

Contacts between paper industry personnel and biotech researchers shall be developed. There are other alternatives than the traditional fairs and exhibitions: discussions in Internet blogs, nings etc. would help significantly to present all modern microbiological tools and evaluate their use in paper industry microbiology. Unfortunately the main problem, time, still stays, even gets worser: people tend to be in a hurry in their working life today. To reserve a period, even short, to investigate new methods will still be worth to do!

The need of paper industry biocides: alternative prospects.

2009-01-28T04:44:00.000-08:00

IM is wondering: are there any other sector of process industry, where microbes are allowed to grow like in paper industry?

Biotechnological processes, of course. But their populations are carefully selected and controlled. And they are employers of the company, not criminals trying to cause harm to the company.

Some significant changes in paper industry processes have taken place after the rise of active environmental care. Both the closure of water circulation and the cancelling of biocides having mercury as an active incredient are favorable for the environment, of course. But the microbial growth inside the paper machines has activated at the same time.

The beginning of neutral paper production led to an "ecocatastrophe" inside paper machines. The rise of pH value (as well as the rise of temperature, caused by the extended recirculation of water) was fatal for slow, acid-loving fungal growth. New mineral additives are an important source of certain types of bacteria, causing severe problems like production of slime, spoiling of the process compounds and hygiene faults of the products.

IM has published an article "Paper Machine: an Ecosystem and a Bioreactor" (INOCULA 1/2007. Helsinki, Finland). Many readers agree: paper machines offer ecological niches for bacteria, and the controlled environments of wet end circulations are very much similar with those of biotechnical processes, based on chemostatic fermentors.

A lot could be do to make paper machines more unfavorable growth environment for microbial contaminants. Very good results have been achieved in some projects where ecological aspects have been taken into account. These issues will be discussed later in this blog.

But the main question is: how much biocides we still need to control the microbial growth in all regions of a paper machine?

Incoming raw materials, sorry to say, may be very contaminated: the highest value of total count during IM's career has been over 100 000 000 cfu/g in a mineral slurry (which was fortunately replaced by a fresh lot by the supplier!). It is therefore obvious that a continuous control - both analytical and practical - is needed for starches, mineral pigments and other contaminated raw materials. This does not mean that all lots are spoiled: there are suppliers which know their response to deliver pure products to the mills but all kind of errors in biocidic pre-treatment, transport and storage of these products may happen.

Certain sites of paper machines also need biocidic treatments all the time. Chosing proper solutions for biocide programs (type of biocide, active compound, dosing sites, timing etc.) of a paper machine is a challenging tasks. In best cases, both the paper mill and biocide personnel are sitting down and discussing of the individual problems of the paper process hygiene.

When specified laboratory services, having tools like PMEU and biofilm microscopy, are included, the final result can be optimal one. Paper industry microbiologists can also help significantly by declaring the effects of process parameters on the growth of planktonic and biofilm bacteria.

The more competence is included, the better solution will be find.

Updating our biotechnology forecasts - some practical topics.

2009-01-27T06:49:00.000-08:00

I will come back to the future of biotechnology.

The economical figures of traditional industries seem to be awful. We will see, what is the condition of such branches like paper, automobile and communication enterprises in 2010.

The optimistic view into biotechnology, presented by Osmo Kuusi in 1991, should be reviewed soon.

Another positive attitude has been presented by Tom Abate in "The Biotech Investor", published in 2003 and found by me under a layer of dust in the library of Jyväskylä University (Tom Abate 2003. The Biotech Investor: how to profit from the coming boom in biotechnology. Owl Books, New York).

Tom Abate tells about sectors of biotechnology like the previous authors, discovering this area. He calls them "The Genomics Wave", "The Proteomics Wave" , "The Biotech Toolmakers", "Green Genes", "The New Factories", "Brave New Worlds" and "The Biotech Clusters".

What these titles include, I'll try to explain whenever I have red this interesting book.

Before that, I have good news:

The leading newspaper in Central Finland, Keskisuomalainen, tells about the manufacturers of small-scale waste water treatment plants. Finnish legislations says that all small houses shall update their ww treatment systems before the end of 2013.

The count of these households is est. 300 000 in Finland!

Not to name the individual enterprises, there are a couple of small companies manufacturing/importing batch-type activated sludge systems in a small scale in our country. Two larger companies, having Finnish background, also exists.

Novel ideas to control the effluents of these mini-plants, like PMEU, already exist, but the questions of evaluation, standardization etc. will have a sever effect on the application of these methods.

I think that it is now time for the Finnish government to accept these analytical methods to be applied by small-scale treatment plant producers.

Colony counts, developed in the beginning of 20th century, are valuable. But what we are needing today are the rapid methods for the control of both activated sludge itself and the effluents of these equipments.

Verenium to launch largest commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant; $250 million 36 Mgy Florida project starts this year : Biofuels Digest

2009-01-16T08:18:00.000-08:00

I haven't written a lot about biofuels this year. The decreasing price of oil is an influential factor. Certainly, the economic crisis has impacted investments in the field of biofuels production. But that area isn't completely dead. Things are happening.

Verenium to launch largest commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant; $250 million 36 Mgy Florida project starts this year : Biofuels Digest: "In Florida, Verenium announced that it would commence construction of what it termed the first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant. The facility will be located in Highlands County, between Orlando and Lake Okeechobee.

The company said that it would receive $7 million in support for the project from the state of Florida’s Farm-to-Fuel fund, and expected to break ground on the 36 Mgy facility in the second half of the year. The project will cost between $250 and $300 million and will use non-food grasses as feedstock.

The company’s 1.4 Mgy demonstration-scale plant in Jennings, Louisiana commenced production this month , and capping off an excellent start to the year was news from NASDAQ that the company was once again in compliance with the exchange’s minimum market cap of $50 million. The company announced $133 million in losses in the third quarter."

2009-01-05T00:27:00.000-08:00

I am starting my working again after a several days' flu by reading "The Paper Index Times". Updating the current situation in P&P is easiest by this way.

The columns by Jim Thompson, writing "Nip Impressions" (see http://news.paperindex.com/category/Blogs_Columns) are always very interesting. I would like to refer a chapter of his last issue here:

You may think it is self-serving (read: old Jim does not want the competition) to tell you to avoid consulting, but my real reason for saying this is consulting, unless you have some very special well known skills, is a daunting business to enter and be successful. I tell people coming to me seeking advice on this subject the following: If you like to write, and can do so quickly and expertly, and you like to be on job interviews, come on in, the water's fine. General consulting consists of two activities: writing and interviewing for your next assignment. It is hard work. On the other hand, if you have a particular exquisite skill and are well known, you can be a success. I once knew a gentleman capable of making any old winder run, no matter how decrepit. He was in high demand, so high of demand he decided to double his rates to see if he could reduce his workload. All he did was double his income. If he had thought, there was a hint of his "problem" staring him in the face: when the mill I worked at needed him, corporate would send their private jet to fetch him, no matter where he was, and bring him to our mill. This is a reputation you can retire on.

This is something which I have wondered over a period of several years.

Consulting, performed by individual specialists or small, private institutions would be very favorable for big companies today. As discussed several times in my blog before (and is worth to repeat) is the challenge of big P&P companies to have benefit by buying rapid services from independent sector of R&D.

All the sad news about closing R&D centres give an impression of fatal view ito future: nothing can be developed anymore. Research is all in vain. But this is not the truth.

There are always ideas growing on among researchers, no matter economical situation is alarming. And it is easy to understand: researchers have adopted a positive view also in problem situations during their studies and career. Just thinking about trouble shooting of machines which would not run: you will continue your task until you find some solution. This IP is something which should be valuated and used today, no matter your "Profit 200X did not have any significant success.

If you are working for P&P, you have to be optimistic. Otherwise you do not survive.

SUCCESSFUL, COOPERATIVE NEW YEAR 2009!

2008-12-31T12:04:00.000-08:00

There are only a couple of hours left in 2008. I am sitting in the middle of a snow storm in Central Finland, suffering of a flu which I have got as a souvenir from my Latvian visit (Riga is a beautiful city but as cold as Finland during Christmas time).

Looking back to 2008: what has happened on the area of paper industry microbiology?

It seems that certain depression has been obvious in R&D of paper industry - and especially in D. Activities of chemical suppliers will be asked by paper makers to fulfill trouble shooting tasks. Smaller private labs have also been active to assist to solve microbiological problems like H2S production by SRB's, spoilage of raw materials and biofilm formation.

Novel methods - like PCR and PMEU - are on the threshold of applications.

I have only one wish for 2009 regarding paper industry microbiology:

I wish that all partners of the joint activities, intended in securing paper process runnability, will have time and interest to build up cooperation. All elements for this are already available:

* experienced personnel of paper mills

* biocide suppliers, having response to help in mb problems

* novel, rapid analytical tools for P&P microbiology

* private, active research institutes

I therefore wish every one

SUCCESSFUL, COOPERATIVE NEW YEAR 2009!

and promise to myself to be more active as a blog writer for Paper Industry Microbiology!

Macarena, Juha and Elias a writing challenge

2008-12-02T05:36:00.000-08:00

Hello Macarena, Elias and Juha! I've a great idea. We should approach Pulp and Paper International and suggest a blogging deal about Scandinavian Pulp and Paper Industry

Local news: the good, bad and the ugly
Research reports and industrial innovations
Rumors and tales from the country of Father Christmas

We could create a writing team consisting of a network of bloggers. Our service could provide new insights from Europe.

There are also other areas that need to be covered:

PMEU and Waste Water Treatment
The long and bumpy road towards a bio-based economy
Food, Packaging and Supply Chain Management

Let me know what you think. We've a a team of four:

Macarena
Elias
Juha
Helge

We can cover these industries from very different points of view.

Deirdre Rawlings

2008-11-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

Deirdre Rawlings: "Meet Deirdre Rawlings ND, MH, MS, CNC: Deirdre Rawlings is a board-certified doctor of naturopathy, certified nutritionist counselor, health and wellness coach, author, and nationally known expert on nutrition and diet. She speaks to groups and organizations across America providing the latest health and nutrition information and strategies for individuals to thrive and shine. Deirdre leads and inspires individuals with her dynamic and engaging presentations and her sound health wisdom and practical tools, empowering people to take control of their health."

Helge: We're friends at Your Inner CEO Community.

Her book, “Food that Helps to Win the Battle against Fibromyalgia”, (published by Fairwinds Press in July 2008), is loaded with dozens of healthful tips on healing fibromyalgia through foods and nutrition and contains 100 easy-to-make recipes for fast results. Leading health authorities and experts in the world of integrative medicine and nutrition including Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, Dr. Stephen Sinatra, and Dr. Jonny Bowden have endorsed Deirdre’s latest book.

Helge: In the Bio-based economy food is produced and distributed in a way that takes in account how to live a healthier life.

With her combined background in nutrition, health and public relations spanning more than twenty years, Deirdre has been featured in and contributed material to a variety of health publications and has been guest speaker on national radio and local television. She is the founder and director of Nutri-Living Corporation specializing in nutrition..."

Helge: Would that mean locally, ecologically and more sustainably produced food?

Mr. Gregory Louie's Exploring Biotechnology Website

2008-10-18T06:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a short profile of a new KK-Net(worker). The Biotouch movement is getting larger.

Mr. Gregory Louie's Exploring Biotechnology Website: "Mr. Gregory Louie's Exploring Biotechnology Website. Course Description. The word 'bio-technology' merges two words, biology and technology. Biology is the study of life and technology is the practical application of the science. Biotechnology, then, is the practical application of biology for the discovery of cures for diseases and for the production of better varieties of crops and farm animals. Our course is designed to introduce you to some basic concepts of biotechnology. You will gain an understanding of the fundamental science and an appreciation for what it takes to have a deeply interesting, financially rewarding career in this rapidly growing area of North Carolina's high tech economy."

I had a chat with Gregory a few minutes ago and he is now a member of the KK-Net(work).

Guest: Hi Helge, Are you online?

me: Yes

Guest: I am a middle school biotechnology teacher and have a few questions. Do you have 10 minutes or so to talk?

me: Sure

Guest: OK. After the financial crisis resolves in a few years, biofuels processing will undoubtedly expand. Accompanying that expansion will be the need for a trained workforce. Agree? Sent at 4:21 PM on Saturday

me: That's true. Biofuel can be made from many things and there is a need improve the yield of eg. cellulosic biofuel

Guest: In preparation for that future, I'm looking for ways to train middle school students using the latest control technology for bioreactors.

me: Okay. Sent at 4:22 PM on Saturday

Guest: So I'm looking for contacts with people who know which bioprocess control vendors might release a simple bioreactor control package without the bioreactor to be used in schools.

me: I'd like you to come to this open innovation platform to have a long term continuous discussion http://kknetwork.ning.com/
Sent at 4:24 PM on Saturday

me: We've microbiologists, biotechnologists and the Groups are open for all. Our idea is to use Social Media to improve global collaboration on matters that are very new or were experience is thin.

Guest: OK. Should I start a new forum topic?

me: That sounds great. Sent at 4:26 PM on Saturday

me: Ask for Juha Mentu, Elias Hakalehto, Macarena Pallares etc as your friends and me Helge. I also represent KK-Net

Guest: OK Thanks for your time.

me: You're welcome. Are you from Raleigh? Sent at 4:28 PM on Saturday

A new beginning of P&P industry - in Africa?

2008-10-17T04:37:00.000-07:00

I would like to share my new post (from www.industrymicrobiologist@blogspot.com) with the readers and participant of BIOTOUCH concept. Sometimes it is very refreshing to have some time for thinking about an utopia: "What if everything could be started again, taking into account the best, current knowledge of technical, physical, chemical, microbiological and energy topics in paper industry - what would the paper mills be like?"

- Here is my post:

"IM follows frequently the bright blog written by Jim Thompson (http://www.nipimpressions.com/).

His last post discusses about the dark future of Finnish P&P. In opposite, he gives an optimistic forecast: the promising region for the manufacture of pulp and paper could be Africa! After reading his points of view - short but comprehensive - I must agree. Everything could begin once more on this huge continent if only social and political confusions can be won there.

Sitting and thinking - what else? What about a new way to construct paper and board machines? To take into account not only technical issues, but also all chances to have machines which were easier to control and keep clean/safe than these old ones, we are still driving?

There are a lot of relatively simple solutions which can improve the hygiene of raw materials as well as keep wet end area, white water circulation, pulp towers and broke systems cleaner. These ideas were discussed during the professional career of IM and very many wise men (and women) agreed. It has been the question of reconstruction costs which has prevented the realisation of the progress in paper machine development towards cleaner production and processes.

But: what about starting everything once more? To build up machines with clever ON LINE process control and alarm systems? Machines which were easier to clean during production? Machines which even have self-cleaning constructions?

Ozzy Osbourne sings: " I'm a Dreamer" - but what we are lacking just now are the dreams, aren't we?"

Forecasts of U.S. Science Policy

2008-09-26T06:20:00.000-07:00

Another, interesting letter by SIM was received by me today. It concerns a meeting, discussing U.S. Science Policy:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SEPTEMBER 25, 2008

Presidential candidates invited to discuss science policy at the National Press Club; DC think tank convenes election forum

National leaders on science and technology policy will meet Friday in Washington to discuss the #1 issue facing America. Senator McCain will be represented by longtime adviser and policy expert Floyd DesChamps. Senator Obama has yet to respond to the invitation.

Science and technology drive the economy and are the keys to our security. Every facet of the future will be shaped by the options they offer. The Center for Policy on Emerging Technologies, lead sponsor of the forum, has been established with wide bipartisan support and participation from corporate, policy and civil society sectors - to raise the profile of S and T policy and especially the long-term transformational significance of “emerging technologies” such as biotechnology and nanotechnology, and applications such as artificial intelligence and robotics.

One panel will address the federal role in S and T policy. It will be led by David Goldston (former staff director of the House Science Committee) and include Phillip Bond (former Undersecretary of Commerce and currently president of a lead technology trade group) and Reece Rushing (Center for American Progress).

Space policy experts include NASA’s Planetary Protection Officer Cassie Conley and former Chief Medical Officer Arnauld Nicogossian.

The Emerging Technologies panel brings together bio and nano experts including former CEO of AVANTI Immunotherapeutics Una Ryan and Intellectual Property lawyer Jennifer Camacho.

“We face two huge issues, both of them neglected by leaders of all parties,” says Nigel Cameron, C-PET President and Illinois Institute of Technology Research Professor; “the general state of US science, technology and engineering is worrisome as our spending needs to be more intentional and the long-term prospects of trends in education are dire for American leadership. Side by side, the implications of tomorrow’s technologies for every aspect of our society have yet to be taken seriously. Science needs a much higher profile in the policy community. That’s why we have started a new think tank – and invited the presidential candidates to lay out their wares for us at Friday’s National Press Club forum.”

Co-chairing the forum with with Nigel Cameron will be Jonathan Moreno (University of Pennsylvania and Center for American Progress), and University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute President Jennie Hunter-Cevera. “It is very timely to have our leaders in the country discuss the current needs and gaps in education, science and technology to keep our country competitive at the global level. Science on the front end of discovery is moving ahead very fast while the back end on regulatory and policy issues are still catching up and presenting barriers to moving the technology out to end users.’, state Jennie Hunter-Cevera, president of UMBI and past-president of SIM.

The forum is co-sponsored by the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute and the Society for Industrial Microbiology.

National Press Club, Washington, DC Friday 9/26, 9.30-5.00

Inquiries: Nigel Cameron 847 452 8144

www.c-pet.org

WIREC USA and Finnish Biofuel collaboration

2008-09-20T06:16:00.000-07:00

Minister Mauri Pekkarinen participated in the WIREC 2008 conference in Washington, March 2008. The blog post below was posted March 5, 2008. Pekkarinen spoke about R&D collaboration between USA and Finland. Finland is taking steps towards increased production of Biodiesel from non-food biomass. Neste Oil is a leading company in this field with projects in Finland, Singapore, and Central Europe.

Stora Enso and Neste Oil are building a pilot plant for cellulosic biodiesel production from forestry residuals and waste wood. Full scale operations will start in Finland in the time bracket of 2010 to 2015. UPM has a somewhat different approach. The newest sign for that is the pleriminary announcement about a bio-oil production from low value wood in Kajaani.

We'll learn more about the Kajaani project in the near future. Below is information from the Wirec conference.

Update from WIREC 2008 | reegle Blog: "WIREC 2008 is underway, and it’s off to a great start. United States Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte welcomed the participants and gave a call to action for the three conference days ahead. He was followed by United States Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer, who laid out the opportunities presented by renewable energy and the challenges ahead.

WIREC 2008 is enjoying exceptionally high attendance, with nearly 3000 participants registering for the ministerial conference. More than 100 official country delegations sent over 600 official party delegates, including more than 100 Ministers.

In conjunction with the ministerial-level plenary sessions and discussions, ACORE’s business conference also began today. The trade show opened this morning to over 5000 registered participants. CEOs and other high level executives from every renewable energy sector were in attendance, mingling with official government delegations from the ministerial conference.

The night will close with a reception sponsored by BP, bringing the first night of the conference to a successful end. Tomorrow the breakout sessions on each of the focal points begin, and conference participants are excited to have a chance to discuss the specific challenges they see ahead."

Team Ethanol Journy Sponsors

2008-09-19T03:06:00.000-07:00

Team Ethanol: "Jane's Blog. As the Team packs up this morning and flies and drives off in their various directions, our journey through the outback and our participation in the World Solar Challenge would not be complete without a few worthy 'thank you's'

This is no ordinary challenge, and this is no ordinary car. From 21 to 28 October, 2007, follow Team Ethanol as we journey 3,500 km (2,200 miles) from Darwin to Adelaide through the Australian outback in the World Solar Challenge.

THANK YOU to all our sponsors (see their links on the right hand side) for their belief in our Team. We mentioned you at all and every opportunity and hope you will stick with us for Team Ethanol 2009. We will be in touch with you when we return to Mackay, Queensland for individual feedback."

Helge: How could we get sponsors for the Biotouch project? Here is one example.

Peak Energy blog about the soil

2008-09-12T22:29:00.000-07:00

Peak Energy: "Terra Preta: Biochar And The MEGO Effect. This month's edition of National Geographic has a feature article on 'Soil', which looks at the steady degradation of agricultural land and the problem this poses in world where the population is heading for 9+ billion people - effectively calling attention to the 'peak dirt' problem (however soil is renewable, so any 'peak' should be able to be reversed if sufficient time and effort is put into doing so).

The article uses an acronym I've never come across before to describe the problem faced by those trying to draw attention to the issue: MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) - a phenomenon which should be familiar to anyone who has ever talked about peak oil, global warming or any of the other 'limits to growth'."

Health, Wellness, Nutrition, Biotouch and Microbiology

2008-09-09T21:17:00.000-07:00

Health, Wellness & Nutrition: "Health, Wellness & Nutrition Passion. Back in 1987 I was listening to a health, wellness and nutrition doctor on the radio," writes Barbie Perkins.

Barbie_Perkins, aka Barbie Perkins, has been a member since August 26 2008, has rated 0 lenses, favorited 0, and has created 1 lenses from scratch. This member's top-ranked page is "Health, Wellness & Nutrition".

I learned about her this morning through Twitter and decided to post it on this blog. Below is more about her thoughts. What do our biotech and microbiology experts to say about Barbie Perkins comments?

"The health, wellness and nutrition doctor was talking about the effects of soda pop and sugar on our health. The doctor said that the phosphoric acid in Pepsi and other soda pop products took the calcium out of bones. The doctor spoke of one of her patients who was a young wife and mother of three (ages 9, 7, and 2 years). The bones in her feet were soft and deteriorating. When The doctor asked the young woman what her other doctor thought caused her problem, the young woman said. 'I'm a Doctor Pepper freak. I have one on the hour every hour I am awake.' The health, wellness and nutrition doctor said that if this young woman continues her soft-drink habit, it wouldn't be long till she was wheel chair bound. By the way, this young woman was only 37 years old.

That scared me because I was almost 37 years old, the mother of two (ages 12 and 10) and had been consuming a minimum of three - sixteen ounce bottles of Pepsi cola a day for about the past 17 years. I didn' t want to wind up in a wheel chair from over consumption of soft drinks. The health, wellness and nutrition doctor spoke of a Green Drink so I ordered the Green Drink and Book and started taking the Green Drink on a daily basis."

There is a flair of network marketing in the blog. I've seen that among others GNLD is profiling itself as a wellness and nutrition company. How much is actually happening in the field of nutrition? What about the role of Finnish, Nordic, European scientists?

How to evaluate paper industry biocides?

2008-08-20T04:25:00.000-07:00

The following post was sent to "industrymicrobiologist.blogspot.com" but I think that it may interest also the readers of BIOTOUCH blog (and comments, of course, are more than welcome!).

Before referring the originat text, I would like to add some ideas about evaluation of biocides.

As known by microbiologists, traditional plate count methods cause bias into the biocide test results. No matter the active compounds are added to the process samples for KILL tests, final results are still derived by colony count analyses.

To have faster and more reliable evaluation (no need to dose every alternative into the process for days..weeks) a novel test method, which performes the biocide evaluation in original samples all over the test, is needed. PMEU method seems, until now, definitely to be the best choose.

And then the original post:

What should an ideal biocide be like?

* effective against a variety of microbial species
* effective in different process environments (temperature, pH, RO potential, solid concentrations etc.)
* both fast and conserving type of action
* not harmful for employers of paper machine
* not harmful for paper machine
* not harmful for products of the paper machine
* not harmful for environment
* (something else?)

As far as I know, no such ideal biocide has been developed yet. "Tailored" biocide products shall therefore be combined to fight against raw material contamination, microbial activity in large process water and pulp systems, fiofilm producers...

The rapid development of fast-acting oxidative agents (chlorine-and bromine-based compounds, PAA, ClO2 and even O3) is very promising, but they have limited success as storing agents. Their broad-spectrum influence on even bacterial spores should be taken into account when planning biocide programs, which also should contain compounds to prevent biodegradation during storage periods and formation of biofilms on wet surfaces of the machine.

In some cases, activity of alternative biocides against certain hazardous bacteria are also worth to evaluate.

easternblot.net about BioBarCamp

2008-08-19T22:11:00.000-07:00

easternblot.net: "BioBarCamp is full. Posted on Thursday 24 July 2008 by Eva @ 12:18 pm. Filed under: BioBarCamp and Site Updates.

BioBarCamp

"BioBarCamp is officially full as of a few days ago. It had to be capped off at 75 because the IFTF doesn’t actually fit 100 people as well as was initially hoped. I will be there, even though I feel highly incompetent compared to the rest of the guest list. Some people who are going to SciFoo are attending BioBarCamp the day before, which accounts for the high number of talented and awesome people. I’m there in the middle of my California vacation, so I’m probably exhausted by that time (Trips organized by me always strongly resemble The Amazing Race. I would be so good on that show…," writes Eva.

She continues on her blog:

"I’m going to pre-blog a bunch of things before I leave next week, so you won’t even know that I’m gone. It’s not like there has been much action on this blog lately anyway. If you leave a comment during that time and it needs moderating, I might be a bit slower in approving it. (Your comments are auto-approved if you use the same name and e-mail address as you use on a previously approved comment. ) I am staying with friends a couple of times during my trip, but other days I am spending almost entirely on Greyhound buses, so my internet access will be intermittent."

Who is Eva?

Easternblot.net is owned, edited, and mostly written by Eva, a PhD candidate in Biochemistry. Eva writes original articles that bring a scientific twist to topics such as carrots , cats , CSI, fringe theatre, or musicians. She also obsessively surfs the internet to find interesting websites and visits local science/culture events. Eva also writes for other publications, including Hypothesis Journal, for which she is an editor. She volunteers for the outreach programs Let’s Talk Science and Kids Science. She also plays violin and takes photos, but rarely finds the time to write handwritten letters or watch TV anymore.

Helge: I blogged about BioBarCamp to make a note that we could arrange such an event in Finland to discuss the Biotouch themes.

Gina Smith about Tech and Biotech

2008-08-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

gina smith: "gina smith about herself: I am an author and a journalist specializing in tech and biotech -- I consult, write and love to hear from you all via email."

Contact Gina Smith:

* Her Website is: http://www.ginasmith.com
* Location: United States

One-Line Bio: I am an author and a journalist specializing in tech and biotech -- I consult, write and love to hear from you all via email.

Biography: Gina Smith is a career technology and science journalist and author.
She is the New York Times Best-Selling Author (with Steve Wozniak) of iWOZ: From Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-founded Apple and Had Fun Along the Way.

Her previous book: The Genomics Age, explained DNA and stem cell science to investors and interested lay people. Barron's named it one of the top 20 books of 2005. Gina was on air as ABC News' first technology correspondent. She appeared several times weekly on Good Morning America and World News Tonight with Peter Jennings from 1995 to 2000.

From 1990 to 2000, she authored Inside Silicon Valley, an award-winning column in the San Francisco Sunday Chronicle. In that time period she also cohosted and solo hosted On Computers with Gina Smith (later Connected with Gina Smith on ABC), a syndicated tech-help talk show. She does lots of other things -- freelance writing and..."

Helge: Learned about this on Twitter and would like to invite her to our Ning network.

BIOTECHNICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL PRODUCTION METHOD AND EQUIPMENT

2008-08-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

(WO/2008/081082) BIOTECHNICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL PRODUCTION METHOD AND EQUIPMENT: Background for the invention

Helge: I found this information on Internet. Would you Elias like to comment? What are the practical implications?

Pub. No.:		WO/2008/081082		International Application No.:		PCT/FI2008/000001
Publication Date:		10.07.2008		International Filing Date:		04.01.2008

IPC:

C12M 1/04 (2006.01), C12M 1/12 (2006.01), C12P 1/04 (2006.01), C12P 39/00 (2006.01), C12Q 1/02 (2006.01)

Applicant:

HAKALEHTO, Eino, Elias [FI/FI]; Kasarmikatu 12 C 1, FIN-70110 Kuopio (FI).

Inventor:

HAKALEHTO, Eino, Elias; Kasarmikatu 12 C 1, FIN-70110 Kuopio (FI).

Priority Data:

20070008

04.01.2007

Title:	BIOTECHNICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL PRODUCTION METHOD AND EQUIPMENT
Abstract:	A method and an apparatus enabling the simultaneous cultivation and product formation in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions of microbes or other production organisms in the same bioreactor. The used microbes may be facultatively anaerobic bacteria, for example.

In utilizing and studying microbes in industry or medicine or in environmental cleaning, the used microbiological and bacteriological methods in most cases call for the culturing of cells or equivalent in a nutrient substrate before being able to show them, clarifying the effects of their action or getting to a desired production result. This production result may be a cell growth, e.g. for feed or protein, or the formation of one or several desired metabolic products.

LIQUID OR GAS FORM

These products can be in liquid or gas form or they can be separated from a production liquid into solid form by precipitation. The production result of a microbiological reaction can also be the cleaning of environment, like soil or water, or the elimination of a harmful substance from an organism.

NUTRIENT SUBSTRATES

Nutrient substrates contain vital nutrients for microbes and they are designed to be as suitable as possible for the microbes and other organisms to be studied. Plant and animal cells have been started to generally be cultivated with similar methods as microbes.

Conventionally, nutrient substrates are divided into general nutrient substrates and selective nutrient substrates. In the former many different microbes can widely be cultivated whereas selective nutrient substrates choose or enrich selective species or strains. Studied microbes may be for example single cell bacteria or yeasts, or filamentous molds, or algae or protozoa.

MICROBE CULTIVATION

Microbe cultivations and studies may be related to projects for example in medicine, health care, pharmaceutical industry, food, chemistry or cosmetics industries or forestry industry. They may also be part of the control of building mold damage or the follow-up of environmental condition to find out the quality of water, air or other environmental quality.

FINNOFLAG AND ELIAS HAKALEHTO

Normally these cultivations take place in thermostatically controlled cabinets (thermal cabinets or incubators) or rooms, which thermostated cabinets are located in laboratories or equivalent. Often there is need to collect microbe samples or equivalent in the field or as part of field experiments or on site for example in production processes, different locations in hospitals or canteens. Large quantities of microbe cells are generally tried to be cultivated in different kinds of bioreactors, fermentors. Microbiological production reactions often also take place in these. In studies performed by Finnofiag Oy (Kuopio and Siilinjarvi, Finland), it has been shown that microbes can efficiently be cultivated in controlled environments in a cultivation case in a way that air or gas is led into the sampling and cultivation syringes in the case (Finnish patent no FI 106561).

FERMENTATION

In the biotechnical industry fermentation has conventionally been used for cultivating microbes or carrying out a production method by them. Although "fermentation" has originally meant anaerobic fermentation, this concept nowadays includes all microbe action that is carried out in bioreactors. This action may happen just as well in the presence of oxygen, aerobically, or without oxygen, anaerobically. In this application the term "reactor" means bioreactor.

Biotouch and the price of oil

2008-08-07T01:50:00.000-07:00

Macarena, Elias, Juha, and Bitouch readers, we're now heading towards the second phase with this open innovation platform for Biotouch. Macarena did a great work to get Biotouch started and attracted readers from all over the world. She used some new tools like Yahoo Answers to get more visitors to this blog.

Now I try to attract more readers, commentators, and co-writers. We need to get this waggon moving. A lot of work has been done for years. I hope this will lead to something we couldn't imagine before. Taking this business process to the open is a new and bold move. The social media provides new windows of opportunities for complex issues like Biotech.

We're still struggling with how to turn great innovations like PMEU and the knowledge within the team to Biotouch projects with a solid Financing but time will tell if we're heading in the right direction.

The price of oil is now high, even though it has declined a little from $150 peak prices. But there is still a long way to go before we're down at $50 per barrel. As an evidence, take a look at Elias' email comment and we can see that one of the resasons for the high price of oil is the lack of investments in refinery capacity. Take a look at this quote "There will be no new refineries by Giuseppe Marconi - 2008/07/23" below.

Giuseppe Marconi's comment is two weeks old. Here is Elias' comment.

Hello!

Thank you for the message. I have adjoined here one comment related to the inadequasy of crude oil preventing the planning of new refineries. I think that this is rather indicative also pricewise.

I would be glad to contribute on "Biotouch" especially since I was generating the concept in the spring in some of our fruitful telephone conversations. It is essentially a way to act in a new direction in order to gain understanding on the microbes.

Tried to call Hannu today, after his message. We will be in touch hopefully on tomorrow.

With best regards,

Elias

There will be no new refineries by Giuseppe Marconi - 2008/07/23

Oil companies won't be building more refineries, because there won't be enough oil left to refine by the time new refineries could pay for themselves.

There hasn't been a new refinery built in the US since 1976. In 1982, there were 301 operable refineries in the U.S and they produced about 17.9 million barrels of oil per day. Today there are only 149 refineries, and they're producing 17.4 million barrels. This increase in efficiency is impressive but not a miracle. As with everything these outputs are carefully calculated to optimize profitability. Let me explain.

Truth be told, new refineries require tremendous financial commitments which take anywhere from 15 to 25 years to amortize. With record oil prices it would make perfect sense to invest in a few refineries today, except... for the lack of oil to be refined 20 years from now.

Trends have predicted that peak oil production, where the production of oil starts to decline, will be reached around 2007-2010. After that, there will be less and less oil to refine no matter where drillers look. In this context, building expensive new refineries does not make a lot of sense as existing ones will be sufficient to process whatever little oil is left. So forget about new refineries, except for a few in the northern midwest to process the heavy oil from Canada.
refinery tank.

Crude oil is a finite resource more and more depleted. As such, an increasing demand put on this finite supply necessitates careful management in order to stretch its lifespan and profitability.

2008/8/5 Helge V. Keitel