Dr. Catherine Kirkland breaks down the role of biofilms and granular sludge in wastewater treatment

Al Cunningham is truly a founding father of biofilm research. He was part of the research group that in 1990 founded what would become the world's first, largest, and best-known biofilm research center at Montana State University. He may have "emeritus" in his title nowadays. But make no mistake, he's as busy as any of his colleagues in the CBE's labs. Today, he talks about the origins of the CBE, how the center nearly collapsed upon the death of its founder, and the current state of biofilm research from his place at its leading edge.

Today, we’re talking with Dr. Heidi Smith, who runs one of the most powerful microscopy facilities in the Pacific Northwest. Heidi took on the task of managing the Bio-Imaging Facility at the Center for Biofilm Engineering in 2018. And one of her first orders of business was to undertake an ambitious plan to upgrade the microscopy hardware. She landed more than $1.5 million in grants, which enabled the purchase of research-expanding equipment that can peer deeper into biofilms than ever before, Importantly, by some standards, the new hardware will exceed the lab’s current capabilities eightfold.