MSU scientist gets grant to study claims of antimicrobial products

BOZEMAN -- Montana State University scientist Darla Goeres won a $1.7 million, five-year contract with the Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year to work on new ways to measure how well antimicrobial products perform.

Goeres, a research professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, said when people buy a product that has a claim such as "kills 99 percent of bacteria," the public must be able to trust the validity of the process used to prove that claim. Developing that process is her job.

Goeres works in the Standardized Biofilms Methods Laboratory at MSU's Center for Biofilm Engineering. There, she develops standards for growing, treating and sampling biofilms, the extremely common communities of bacteria that form on most wet surfaces.

All biofilms are unique. So a product designed to kill one biofilm might not work on any others, which makes proving the effectiveness of antibacterial cleaning products tricky.

However, the method a company uses to prove its product's effectiveness can make a big difference in the test results. Until recently, most methods for testing products involved growing bacteria in a way that's not consistent with the real world, Goeres said.

The contract will allow Goeres to hire two additional undergraduate students for her lab, where they will receive training and experience that will help them continue into graduate school or biofilms jobs.

The lab normally hires four to six undergraduates each year.

Doctor joins hospitalist staff at St. Peter's

Dr. Harnek Singh, an internal medicine specialist from South Carolina, will join the medical staff of St. Peter's Hospital as a hospitalist Sept. 13.

For the past four years, Singh worked as a staff physician at Family Health Center in Orangeburg, S.C., and as a hospitalist at Colleton Medical Center in Walterboro. He also worked in Crosby, N.D., as the chief of staff and medical director for two years.

Singh, who is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, earned his medical degree at Osmania Medical College in Hyderabad, India. He also completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Michigan State University-Saginaw.

Dr. Singh joins Tracy Dill, M.D., who serves as Chief of Hospitalist Services at St. Peter's. The other hospitalists are Dr. Lee Harrison; Dr. Stephen Mest; Dr. Mark Kreisberg; and Dr. Lee Travis.

St. Peter's hospitalists specialize in internal medicine and their entire attention is directed toward patients while they are in the hospital. They are experts in treating patients who are hospitalized with complex medical problems and consult with primary care providers and maintain regular communication with them during a patient's hospitalization.

Holistic health fair planned for Oct. 4-5

The third annual Nature-Energy-Universe Celebration returns to the Red Lion Colonial Hotel Oct. 4-5.

On Friday, Oct. 3, at 7p.m. there will be a pre-event lecture in the natatorium at the Red Lion Colonial Hotel, 2301 Colonial Drive.

Chiropractor Bruce A. Nelson will give the talk, titled "The Cause of All Disease."

In his talk, which is free to the public, Nelson will identify specific causes of the loss of health and how stress plays into disease and will share successes with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue .

Call 227-8401 for a guide to all events at the fair.

For more information go to www.neucelebration.com or e-mail neucelebration@gmail.com.