Yellowstone Times

Montana State University (MSU) researchers have been awarded a $2.5 million contract by the U.S. Department of Defense's Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program to study biofilms that threaten military vehicles. These microbial communities can form on surfaces, potentially affecting the performance of protective coatings used on tactical vehicles deployed in hot and humid climates.

Brent Peyton, a professor at MSU’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, is leading the project alongside a team from MSU's Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE). The team includes Matthew Fields, Darla Goeres, Chris Jones, Heidi Smith, postdoctoral researchers Kylie Bodle and Ghazal Vahidi, and Erika Espinosa-Ortiz from Utah State University.

“The Department of Defense’s tactical vehicles utilize special paints to prevent rust and corrosion, as well as some coatings that are resistant to chemical agents like nerve gas,” said Peyton. “We’re trying to characterize the organisms found on these vehicles, which will help to develop better coating-testing procedures so that coatings can be tested more rapidly and more accurately.”

The research aims to improve current test methods for biofilms by using an industrial surface biofilm reactor to replicate conditions similar to those in tropical environments. This approach seeks to make laboratory tests more realistic compared to traditional methods.

“We’re trying to make the laboratory test methods more realistic,” Peyton explained. “We’ll be growing organisms from real military vehicles in the field... in specially-designed bioreactors that control the humidity and temperature.”

Advanced techniques such as DNA sequencing will be employed for precise identification of microbes. Collaboration with The Sherwin-Williams Company is also part of the project. “Better test methods would allow Sherwin-Williams to develop and test new coatings more quickly,” said Peyton.

The outcomes may extend beyond military applications, benefiting broader environmental paint industries through improved testing procedures.

Founded in 1990 at MSU, CBE was established as the first research center dedicated exclusively to studying biofilms.