Workshop # 1: Cultivation of bacterial biofilms in vitro
9:00 am - Noon, USC School of Dentistry
Registration Limit: 15
This workshop will demonstrate various apparatus for the cultivation of biofilms in flow regimens that are realistic a propos of specific disease states, and will provide hands-on experience in the quantitation of the biofilm populations by traditional (culture) and novel methods.
Workshop # 2: Molecular methods for the analysis of biofilm communities
1:30 pm - 4:30 pm, USC School of Dentistry
Registration Limit: 15
This workshop will provide hands-on experience in the use of the DGGE and DHPLC methods of identifying the bacterial species, and species groups, that comprise biofilms of interest to the participants. New 16 S RNA-based methods for the rapid detection of specific organisms in clinical specimens will be discussed and demonstrated.
Workshop # 3: Direct microscopic visualization of biofilms
9:00 am - Noon, House Ear Institute
Registration Limit: 10
This workshop will provide hands-on experience in the visualization of bacterial biofilms by light and confocal laser microscopy, and demonstrations of their visualization by both transmission and scanning electron microscopy. Numerical systems for the analysis of biofilm structure will be presented in silico.
Workshop # 4: Direct identification and quantitation of bacteria in biofilms
1:30 pm - 4:30 pm, UCLA Campus
Registration Limit: 8
This workshop will provide hands-on experience in the use of FISH probes to speciate bacterial cells in mixed-species populations, and demonstrations of the design of 16 S RNA and antibody-based probes for the same purpose. New techniques for the collection of images of mixed species biofilms, showing the number and location of cells of particular species will also be demonstrated.
