# New paper: polymicrobial biofilms on ISS water recovery materials

**URL:** <https://awg.osdr.space/t/new-paper-polymicrobial-biofilms-on-iss-water-recovery-materials/4717>\
**Category:** Microbial AWG  Topics\
**Created:** [October 7, 2026, 11:17pm UTC](https://awg.osdr.space/t/new-paper-polymicrobial-biofilms-on-iss-water-recovery-materials/4717 "2026-10-07T23:17:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rtscott2001](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/awg.osdr.space/rtscott2001/32/5_2.png) [@rtscott2001](https://awg.osdr.space/u/rtscott2001)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 11:17pm UTC](https://awg.osdr.space/t/new-paper-polymicrobial-biofilms-on-iss-water-recovery-materials/4717/1 "2026-10-07T23:17:49Z")

</div>

Hi [@MicrobesAWG](https://awg.osdr.space/groups/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) [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41526-026-00657-2](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](https://github.com/Jyang41/)

Relevant to anyone working on WRS fouling, polymicrobial dynamics, or surface effects. Transcriptome samples were collected too.

-Ryan

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eosborn](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/awg.osdr.space/eosborn/32/4573_2.png) [@eosborn](https://awg.osdr.space/u/eosborn)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 1:51am UTC](https://awg.osdr.space/t/new-paper-polymicrobial-biofilms-on-iss-water-recovery-materials/4717/2 "2026-10-08T01:51:30Z")

</div>

I like this!