Hi @MicrobesAWG @katherine.j.baxter @nicholas.brereton
Ranson, Thornhill, Yang et al. (McLean, Nickerson, Ott labs) just published in npj Microgravity: Spaceflight-induced changes in polymicrobial biofilm population and structure | npj Microgravity https://doi.org/10.1038/s41526-026-00657-2
Mixed E. coli F11 and P. aeruginosa PAO1 biofilms grown in artificial urine on stainless steel and Teflon in BioCells, 4, 14, and 117 days on ISS (CRS-29). Spaceflight biofilms on Teflon at 4 d formed clustered microcolonies the authors compare to Starry Night (lol, I love it). Ground controls were flat and uniform. P. aeruginosa dominated nearly everywhere by 14 d, and the 117 d SS cells elongated in both flight and ground.
Data will land in NASA Phsyical Sciences Informatics as PSI-201 (not live yet, I’ll post when it is). Image analysis code: Jyang41 · GitHub
Relevant to anyone working on WRS fouling, polymicrobial dynamics, or surface effects. Transcriptome samples were collected too.
-Ryan