TY - CONF A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Development of a laboratory method to assess resistance development of microorganisms to biocides N2 - Bacteria are exposed to biocides through surface disinfection or by antimicrobial surfaces. These stressful environments provide a strong selective pressure for bacteria to adapt. Here, we describe the development of a laboratory method to assess adaption of bacteria by resistance development in response to surface disinfection and antimicrobial surfaces. T2 - The International Biodeterioration Research Group (IBRG) Spring Meeting 2021 CY - Online meeting DA - 28.06.2021 KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Antimicrobial coating KW - Standardization PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-53164 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Wöhlecke, Andreas T1 - Aktuelles aus der Arbeit des BAM-Fachbeirats N2 - Der Fachbeirat kommt bereits seit 13 Jahren in seiner jetzigen Form zusammen, um Zulassungsrichtlinien, weitere Dokumente und fachliche Fragestellungen zu beraten. Die Zeit bringt auch personelle Veränderungen mit sich, darüber wollen wir berichten. Derzeit wird die Zulassungsrichtlinie für Schutzschichten im Fachbeirat und in seiner Arbeitsgruppe Geotextilien und Kunststoff Dränelemente (AG Geotextilien) überarbeitet. Zudem wurde die Zulassungsrichtlinie für Kunststoffdichtungsbahnen auf den aktuellen Stand der Regelsetzung und Normung gebracht. Bestimmte Medien, die hier bei einigen Prüfungen verwendet werden, dürfen nicht mehr in der EU in Verkehr gebracht werden. Hier werden die Hintergründe und Zusammenhänge in Kürze aufgezeigt. Zuletzt wird die Diskussion in Bezug auf den Einsatz von Rezyklaten in den zugelassenen Produkten aufgeführt. T2 - Karlsruher Deponie- und Altlastenseminar 2022 CY - Karlsruhe, Germany DA - 19.10.2022 KW - Deponie KW - Abdichtungssystem KW - Schutzschichten PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56210 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Vogel, Christian T1 - Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS): from analytical methods to thermal and mechanochemical treatment N2 - Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large group of more than 12,000 organofluorine surfactants. As a result of continuous and prolific use, mainly in aviation firefighting foams, thousands of industrial and military installations have been found to contain contaminated soil, groundwater and surface water. . Current decontamination strategies of PFAS-burdened soils mainly consist of adsorption methods using adsorbents for fixation of PFAS in the ground. A second option is the utilization of a “pump and treat” process, cycling polluted soils through a washing plant leading to the concentration of the pollutants in the fine fraction. Both approaches are cost-intensive and not intended for the direct decomposition of all PFAS contaminants. Furthermore, the contaminated adsorbants have to be safely thermal treated for recovery. Hence, there is a great demand for innovative developments, dealing with new strategies of tackling the PFAS problem. Previously, mechanochemical treatment of polychlorinated organic compounds in soils showed an efficient dechlorination. Thus, we investigated mechanochemical treatment of PFAS contaminated soils with various additives in a ball mill. T2 - Al-Balqa Applied University seminar CY - Al-Salt, Jordan DA - 23.02.2025 KW - Combustion Ion Chromatography KW - Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) KW - XANES spectroscopy KW - Thermal treatment KW - Remediation PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-62617 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bäßler, Ralph T1 - Compatibility of polymers exposed to heating oil blends with 10 % and 20 % biodiesel (FAME) N2 - Biodiesel (FAME) from rapeseed is an environmentally friendly alternative to common fossil fuels. It is also suitable to serve as blending component to fuels like heating oil. If the fuel composition is changed, materials compatibility must be guaranteed. Adding polar biodiesel to nonpolar heating oil, changes the blend’s solvency and might cause swelling, extraction and solvation of polymers. The objective of this research was to investigate the compatibility of polymeric materials, which are commonly used for components in middle distillate facilities, along with blends of heating oil and 20 % biodiesel (B20). For this propose, ACM, HNBR, FKM, PE, PA 6, POM, PUR and PVC were exposed to heating oil and B20 for 42 and 84 days at 40 °C. In addition, the polymers HNBR, FKM, PA, POM and PVC were also exposed at 70 °C. Furthermore, the resistance of polymers in eight-year aged B10 at 40 °C was evaluated. Ageing of biodiesel increases acidity which might propagate polymer corrosion. The materials were evaluated as resistant, if the loss in tensile properties (tensile strength and elongation at break) and Shore hardness remained under 15 % compared to the initial unexposed material values. For investigations under compressed conditions, the compression set was determined for specimens of ACM, FKM and HNBR after exposure in heating oil B0 and B20 for 3,7,14, 28, 56 and 90 days at 40 °C according to ISO 815-1. It was found that the resistance in B20 at 40 °C was given for all tested polymers except PUR. In the 8 years aged B10, PUR and POM were not compatible and ACM just conditionally compatible. At 70 °C, FKM and PVC were resistant in B20, whereas HNBR and PA 6 were not compatible. Swelling occurred for the elastomers ACM, HNBR and PUR. T2 - AMPP Annual International Corrosion Conference CY - Online Meeting DA - 19.04.2021 KW - Biodiesel KW - FAME KW - RME KW - Polymer in fuels KW - Corrosion PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-52498 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Dehkohneh, Abolfazl T1 - How Single Cells and Biofilms of the Extremotolerant Black Fungus Knufia petricola Respond to Oligotrophic Environments N2 - Melanised black fungi, such as Knufia petricola, are renowned for their constitutive melanin production, extremotolerance, and ability to thrive in hostile, oligotrophic natural and built environments from Antarctic outcrops to marble monuments and solar panels. These traits make them compelling models for astrobiological research, offering insights into survival strategies under conditions analogous to extraterrestrial habitats. Here, we quantified the responses of K. petricola A95 to carbon and nitrogen supply, varying sources (C: glucose vs. sucrose; N: ammonium vs. nitrate) and concentrations (C:N ratios of 0.6 – 600), including nutrient-free controls. Biofilm radial extension and thickness, morphology, biomass, produced CO2, and carbon-use efficiency (CUE) were analysed across controlled C:N ratios after 28 days. we combined macroscale assays of biofilm formation on agar with microscale tracking of single-cell development into microcolonies in a microfluidic device. This dual-scale approach allows the study of the nutritional requirements and growth strategies of K. petricola under chronic oligotrophy and provides quantitative inputs for individual-based simulations using iDynoMiCS 2.0. Macroscale analysis identified a C:N ratio of 60 as optimal, resulting in the highest biomass and colony thickness and the highest cumulative CO2 release. Depletion or low concentrations of C or N reduced biomass and increased peripheral filamentation and higher substrate penetration. Notably, nitrate as the N source produced biofilms with more peripheral filaments and caused more wrinkles on the surface of biofilm, whereas ammonium yielded compact, smooth biofilms with little to no filamentation. The CUE ranged from 0.4 to 0.6, being lowest under nutrient limitation. Microscale observations of single cells revealed that increasing the C:N ratio from 0.6 to 60 shortened cell cycles and promoted branching, no branching formed without C and N. Thus, a denser colony at optimal conditions and a rather extended morphology under C or N limitations were observed. T2 - Berlin Early-career Space Research (BESR) conference 2025 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 06.10.2025 KW - Black fungi KW - Oligotrophs KW - Rock-inhabiting fungi PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-65034 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Scholl, Juliane A1 - Meiers, Emelie T1 - Bestimmung von Trifluoressigsäure (TFA) in Acker- und Grünlandböden N2 - Aufgrund ihrer Persistenz, Mobilität und Toxizität haben per- und polyfluorierte Alkylverbindungen (PFAS) zunehmend an Aufmerksamkeit und Relevanz gewonnen. Mit der PFAS-Belastung von Umweltmatrices ist auch der Bedarf an analytischen Methoden gestiegen. Trifluoressigsäure (TFA) gehört als kürzeste perfluorierte Carbonsäure zur Gruppe der PFAS und gilt als emerging pollutant, dessen Gehalte in der Umwelt zukünftig eine stärkere Überwachung erfordern. Im Vortrag wird zunächst auf die Entwicklung einer sensitiven Analysenmethode zur Bestimmung von TFA in Böden mittels HPLC-MS/MS eingegangen. Anschließend werden die TFA-Ergebnisse von 100 ausgewählten Acker- und Grünlandproben aus Deutschland vorgestellt und diskutiert. T2 - PFAS-Länderaustausch – Erfassung und Erstbewertung PFAS-relevanter Flächen CY - Online meeting DA - 18.11.2024 KW - PFAS KW - LC-MS/MS KW - HILIC KW - TFA KW - Boden PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61684 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Holm, O. T1 - Thermische Zerstörung von PFAS in der Sondermüllverbrennung: Einfluss von Temperatur und PFAS-Konzentration N2 - Aufgrund ihrer einzigartigen molekularen Beschaffenheit werden per- und polyfluorierte Alkylsubstanzen (PFAS) in vielen unterschiedlichen Produkten und Anwendungsgebieten eingesetzt. Da sie generell eine hohe Persistenz aufweisen und je nach individueller Struktur unterschiedlich mobil sind, sind sie mittlerweile in allen Umweltkompartimenten und ubiquitär nachzuweisen. Ihre potenzielle (ökologische) Toxizität birgt dabei erhebliche Umweltrisiken, weshalb PFAS in den letzten Jahren mehr und mehr in den Fokus von Umweltverbänden und -behörden gelangten. Gleichzeitig beschäftigen sich Forschungseinrichtungen mit der möglichst weitreichenden Entfernung aus der Umwelt sowie mit deren (anschließender) Zerstörung. Im Projekt ER24-4073 „Untersuchung des thermischen Abbaus von PFAS in einer kommerziellen Großanlage zur Verbrennung gefährlicher Abfälle“, welches vom U.S. Department of Defense (DoD ) über das Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) gefördert wird, untersuchen deutsche, australische und amerikanische Partner die Behandlung von PFAS-haltigen Abfallströmen in einer großtechnischen Verbrennungsanlage, um die Einsatzbereitschaft, Machbarkeit und Sicherheit dieser Zerstörungsmethode zu demonstrieren. T2 - Berliner Konferenz Abfallwirtschaft und Energie (BKAWE) CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 28.01.2026 KW - Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) KW - Verbrennung KW - Kontaminierter Boden PY - 2026 AN - OPUS4-65512 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Erning, Johann Wilhelm T1 - Werkstoffe im Kontakt mit Trinkwasser: Von den UBA-Bewertungsgrundlagen nach Europa N2 - Die Grundlagen der hygienischen Bewertung von Werkstoffen im Kontakt mit Trinkwasser werden erläutert. Die regulatorischen Hintergründe und die Überführung der Regeln in den europäischen rahmen werden diskutiert und an Beispielen erläutert T2 - Abschlusskonferenz ZEP-Fittings CY - Lüdenscheid, Germany DA - 05.02.2026 KW - Korrosion KW - Trinkwasserhygiene KW - Europa KW - Werkstoffe PY - 2026 AN - OPUS4-65536 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Scholl, Juliane T1 - Forever Chemicals of Tomorrow? Fate of Fluorinated Li-Ion Battery Additives N2 - Fluorinated organic compounds (FOCs) are a category of anthropogenic chemicals distinguished by their resilient carbon-fluorine bonds, which confer significant chemical stability and resistance to degradation. This durability makes them valuable in various applications, particularly in lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) [1,2]. However, the environmental implications of these compounds have not been thoroughly investigated. This study focuses on the environmental impact of two fluorinated aromatic compounds: tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane (TPFPB) and tris(pentafluorophenyl)phosphine (TPFPP), specifically regarding their roles in enhancing LiB performance [3,4]. To assess their environmental fate, we employed a range of laboratory simulation techniques generating transformation products (TPs), including total oxidizable precursor assays, electrochemistry (EC), Fenton reactions, UV-C irradiation, and hydrolysis. We utilized liquid chromatography and gas chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify TPs and predict their molecular formulas. Despite their structural similarities, TPFPB and TPFPP displayed differences in electrochemical behavior and degradation pathways. TPFPB underwent significant transformation through hydroxylation and hydrolysis, yielding a diverse array of 49 TPs, including 28 newly identified compounds, including oligomers and minor levels of highly toxic dioxins. In contrast, TPFPP underwent degradation only at extreme conditions, highlighting the necessity for new conditioning protocols in electrochemistry. Overall, our simulation experiments revealed 9 structurally unique compounds, including 7 previously unidentified partially defluorinated byproducts. This study underscores the potential environmental hazards associated with the use of FOCs in lithium-ion batteries and enhances our understanding of the complex interactions these compounds have with the environment. T2 - ANAKON 2025 CY - Leipzig, Germany DA - 10.03.2025 KW - High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS) KW - Lithium-Ion Batteries KW - Simulation methods KW - PFAS KW - Electrochemistry KW - Photochemistry KW - TOP assay PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-62805 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schumacher, Julia T1 - Genetic manipulation of the microcolonial black fungus Knufia petricola N2 - Microcolonial black fungi, a polyphyletic group of ascomycetes, exhibit constitutive melanin formation, yeast-like growth and high stress tolerances. They dominate – often together with bacteria and algae in sub-aerial biofilms – a range of hostile environments including natural and man-made ones, from salterns to dishwashers, roofs and solar panels. Because of lacking genetic tools and the slow growth of most isolates, the genetic bases for these specific properties are largely unknown. The rock-inhabiting fungus Knufia petricola (Eurotiomycetes, Chaetothyriales) exhibits all characteristics of microcolonial black fungi and was selected as recipient for genetic engineering to study gene functions and genetic interactions. Different variants of green and red fluorescent proteins were successfully expressed indicating that fluorescence microscopy using genetically encoded fluorescent proteins and fluorescent dyes enables various cell biology approaches. Furthermore, genes of biosynthetic pathways (DHN melanin, carotenoids, uracil, adenine) were successfully mutated by applying traditional gene replacement and plasmid-based or ribonucleoprotein (RNP)-based CRISPR/Cas9 or silenced by RNA interference (RNAi). The availability of this advanced and efficient genetic toolbox and the annotated genome sequence of strain A95 makes K. petricola an excellent model for exploring the secrets of microcolonial black fungi. T2 - Departmental colloquium of the Tuscia University CY - Viterbo, Italy DA - 14.02.2020 KW - black fungus KW - genetics KW - Crispr/Cas9 PY - 2020 AN - OPUS4-50592 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Plarre, Rudy T1 - Wirksamkeitsbewertung von Holzschutzmitteln N2 - Der Holzschutz in Deutschland ist durch DIN 68800 geregelt. Die Anwendung von Holzschutzmitteln zum Schutz verbauten Holzes ist dabei eine Möglichkeit. Voraussetzung für den Gebrauch von Holzschutzmitteln ist deren Zulassung nach Biozidgesetz. Der Vortrag beschreibt die Vorgehensweise bei der Wirksamkeitsbewertung von Holzschutzmitteln im Rahmen der europäischen Biozidzulassung. Die Wirksamkeitsbewertung erfolgt durch biologische Prüfungen anhand von europäischen Normen getrennt nach Zielorganismen. Je nach späterer Gebrauchssituation des mit Holzschutzmitteln behandelten Holzes sind definierte Alterungsverfahren nach Norm der eigentlichen biologischen Prüfung vorzuschalten. Das Prüfergebnis des widerstandsfähigsten Organismus legt die zum Schutz des Holzes notwenige Konzentration und Einbringmenge des Holzschutzmittel fest. T2 - Fortbildung für Angehörige von Bundesbehörden organsiert durch die BAuA CY - Online meeting DA - 12.02.2026 KW - Holzschutzmittel KW - Wirksamkei KW - Biozidgesetz PY - 2026 AN - OPUS4-65507 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schumacher, Julia T1 - Looking through the eyes of fungi: from photoperception to photoresponses and beyond N2 - Sunlight is an almost unavoidable environmental cue and plays a fundamental role in the biology of pro- and eukaryotic organisms. To cope with sunlight-associated stresses e.g., high temperatures, UV radiation, accumulation of reactive oxygen species, desiccation, and osmotic stress, it is important for organisms to accurately sense and respond to changes in light. The benefits of light are obvious for green organisms such as cyanobacteria, algae and plants which use light as an energy source (photosynthesis). Fungi that can share light-flooded habitats with phototrophs may profit from their excess photosynthetic products. Examples are the plant pathogen Botrytis cinerea, the gray mold fungus, and the rock inhabitant Knufia petricola, a microcolonial black fungus which forms multispecies biofilms with bacteria and algae. T2 - 20th Symposium of the Research Training Group on Bioactive Peptides – The colorful tree of life CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 23.01.2024 KW - Black fungi KW - Melanin KW - Stress tolerance PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-59543 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bresch, Harald T1 - Übersicht zu Projekten bei DIN/ISO, VAMAS und CCQM N2 - Information der AG-Nano der Bundesoberbehörden zur Strukturierung und den laufenden Aktivitäten bei ISO und DIN sowie VAMAS und CCQM. T2 - Behördenklausur Nano der Bundesoberbehörden CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 14.09.2022 KW - Nano KW - Bundesoberbehörden KW - Behördenklausurtagung PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56757 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Update – Milling and weathering of granules N2 - The talk aims to describe the production of microplastic particles as test material and the additional weathering for aged particles. T2 - PlasticsFate meeting CY - Online meeting DA - 12.11.2021 KW - Microplastic KW - Cryo milling KW - Aged particles PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-53737 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Validation of microplastics detection methods and proficiency testing: Suitable microplastic reference materials for interlaboratory comparison N2 - The talk summarizes challenges in microplastic analysis. It shows the preparation of microplastic reference materials as well as the testing on homogeneity and stability. The reference material is used in an international laboratory comparison to compare different detection methods used for microplastic analysis. The methods used were µ-IR (FTIR+LDIR) for number-based methods and TED-GC/MS and Py-GC/MS for mass-based methods. The ILC was done under the umbrella of VAMAS TWA 45. Results of the participants are presented. T2 - BAM Akademie CY - Online meeting DA - 16.05.2024 KW - Microplastics KW - Reference materials KW - ILC KW - Microplastics detection KW - TED-GC/MS KW - Polymer 3R PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-60085 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Preliminary results of an interlaboratory comparison on microplastics organised by plasticsfate N2 - Microplastics are everywhere in the environment, but analytics is challenging. Since harmonisation is missing as well es suitable reference materials, BAM did under th umbrella of VAMAS funded by the EU Horizon 2020 project PlasticsFate a ILC for microplastic detection methods. Methods adressed were IR, Raman, Py-GC/MS and TED-GC/MS. The talk gives a first presentation and evaluation on the results. T2 - CUSP annual meeting and conference CY - Utrecht, Netherlands DA - 12.09.2023 KW - Microplastics KW - TED-GC/MS KW - Polymer 3R KW - Reference material KW - ILC on detection methods PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-60036 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Giovannozzi, A T1 - Standardization and Harmonization Effort on Microplastics Analysis by Spectroscopic Methods N2 - This talk presents the EU funded project PlasticTrace. It shows the challenges in micro- and nanoplastic reference materials and gives some solutions regarding spectroscipc methods such as Raman or IR microscopy to determine the particle numbers. Materials are prepared by cryo milling to get some powder that is later pressed into tablets. The polymer type used is PET, because that is highly important for drinking water directive of EU commission. T2 - International Conference on Raman Spectroscopy (ICORS) CY - Roma, Italy DA - 28.07.2024 KW - Microplastics KW - Reference materials KW - Polymer 3R PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-60881 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - von Werder, Julia T1 - Gebäudebegrünung mit Biofilmen: Herausforderungen und Chancen N2 - Der Vortrag stellt die Ergebnisse der Forschungsarbeiten zur Biorezeptivität von Betonfassaden sowie der gezielten Applikation von Algen dominierten Biofilmen auf Betonfassaden vor. Insbesondere werden die Anforderungen an eine repräsentative Prüfmethode erläutert. T2 - BuGG-Tag der Forschung und Lehre Gebäudegrün 2024 CY - Leipzig, Germany DA - 26.09.2024 KW - Begrünung KW - Biorezeptivität KW - Beton KW - Biofilm PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62221 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter T1 - Evolutionary genomics of termite sociality N2 - Termite sociality is thought to have evolved around 150 million years ago and is therefore ancient. Reconstructing the transitions that led to the evolution of this group of ecologically dominant insect societies is challenging. We sought to address this by sequencing near-chromosome-quality genomes from the major solitary, subsocial and social lineages of termites and their nearest blattodean relatives. We present findings from a comparative analysis of the sequenced genomes, where we explore the molecular underpinnings of termite sociality, and seek to understand the evolutionary origins of termite castes. At a broader scale, we test the extent to which a two-step process involving an initial expansion of genomic elements in cockroaches followed by extensive genome rearrangements in termites, may have acted as an important mechanism of evolutionary change. We then ask whether specific genomic processes may have facilitated evolutionary novelty, for example, through the analysis of transposon-host gene associations across the social gradient. We also report on findings that combine genomes with brain transcriptomics to explore the mechanistic basis of termite phenotypic plasticity, thereby enabling a first large-scale comparative genomic analysis of the evolutionary origins of termite sociality. T2 - International Congress of Entomology (ICE) 2024 CY - Kyoto, Japan DA - 25.08.2024 KW - Termite KW - Reference genome KW - Genomics PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61648 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Aumont, Cédric T1 - Exploring the evolution of termite immunity across phylogeny, sociality and foraging behaviour N2 - The phylogeny of the Blattodea boasts a wide degree of sociality spanning from solitary cockroaches to advanced ecosystem-dominating termite societies. The emergence of sociality in termites was associated with the acquisition of a diverse range of social structures and caste-specific behaviours. From wood-dwelling to fungus-growing and cooperative scouting, termite foraging strategies require different immune defences to confront the diverse pathogens found in the foraging environment. Previous work has found evidence for a caste-specific social defence system in termites leading to an immune system that may favour group over individual defence. While preliminary work suggests a correlation between social transitions and a reduction of immune gene family diversity, the lack of available high-quality termite genomes hampers complete knowledge of the true diversity of immune gene evolution across termite phylogeny. Here, we report on the sequencing and near-chromosome level assembly of 47 high-quality long-read-based genomes across major termite and cockroach sister-branch lineages. We investigate the diversity and evolutionary history of immune genes across genomes, focusing on correlations between immune gene evolution, transitions in sociality and foraging behaviour diversity over termite phylogeny. T2 - ASAB Spring Meeting CY - Exeter, UK DA - 23.04.2024 KW - Termite KW - Immunity PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61695 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Aumont, Cédric T1 - The social brain of termites: investigating gene co-expression network in the Blattodea N2 - The transition to eusociality in termites arose from the sub-social and solitary cockroaches. With it, a more complex ontogeny derived from an ancestral linear developmental pathway common to all cockroaches and a wide array of morphologically distinct castes carrying out the division of labour emerged. We sought to underpine the complexity of this evolutionary transition at the transcriptomic level. We present the gene co-expression network analysis of 305 RNA-seq samples from the brains of 15 species of cockroaches and termites from different instars and castes. With this dataset, we investigate how the network of gene evolved between solitary cockroaches, sub-social cockroach and eusocial termites. Moreover, we investigate the emergence of the two most striking evolutionary innovations in termites, the appearance of the soldier caste, common in nearly all termites and thought to have evolved once and subsequently lost in some species, and the true worker caste, the sterile workforce of the colony thought to have derived from the totipotent false worker caste in four different lineages of termites independently. T2 - International Congress of Entomology CY - Kyoto, Japan DA - 25.08.2024 KW - Termite KW - Genetics PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61696 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Challenges in microplastics standardisation N2 - This talk addresses the challanges in microplastic analytics. It shows the need of standards, analytics and reference materials for accurate and reliable measurements. It explains the state of the art for referenence materials in this field and their problems. A solution is presented with PET tablets. The urgent need of harmonisation it also emphasised. T2 - MARII Summit CY - Madrid, Spain DA - 15.10.2025 KW - Microplastics KW - Reference materials PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64488 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Meermann, Björn T1 - Element analytical approaches for emerging contaminant analysis-materials meet environment N2 - Im Rahmen des Vortrags wurden Elementanalytische Methoden auf Basis der ICP-MS und HR-CS-GFMAS im Kontext der Material-Umweltanalytik in Form eines Übersichtsvortrags vorgestellt. Neben den Techniken wurden diverse Applikationsbeispiele für unterschiedliche Umweltmatrizes genannt. T2 - ANAKON 2025 CY - Leipzig, Germany DA - 10.03.2025 KW - ICP-MS KW - Emerging contaminants KW - Evironment PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-65126 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Meermann, Björn T1 - Approaches for PFAS Sum-Parameter Analysis - from Materials to Environment N2 - Im Rahmen des Vortags wurden PFAS Analysemethoden auf Basis der optischen Spektroskopie (HR-CS-GFMAS) vorgestellt. Anhand ausgewählter Applikationsbeispiele wurde die Leistungsfähigkeit der Methode dargelegt. Beispiele waren dabei u.a. aus dem Bereich Oberflächenwasseranalytik, Pflanzen und Böden. T2 - Industrie Anwenderseminar PFAS 2025 CY - Online meeting DA - 30.06.2025 KW - PFAS KW - HR-CS-GFMAS KW - Summenparameter PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-65125 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Meermann, Björn T1 - Approaches for PFAS Sum-Parameter Analysis -from Materials to Environment N2 - Im Rahmen des Vortags wurden PFAS Analysemethoden auf Basis der optischen Spektroskopie (HR-CS-GFMAS) vorgestellt. Anhand ausgewählter Applikationsbeispiele wurde die Leistungsfähigkeit der Methode dargelegt. Beispiele waren dabei u.a. aus dem Bereich Oberflächenwasseranalytik, Pflanzen und Böden. T2 - VD LUFA Kongress CY - Oldenburg, Germany DA - 09.09.2025 KW - HR-CS-GFMAS KW - PFAS KW - Summenparameter PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-65127 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Gluth, Gregor T1 - Microbially induced corrosion of cementitious materials in sewer systems N2 - Sewer networks (also called wastewater systems) include structures to collect and transport wastewater to disposal or treatment in dedicated facilities. These networks are essential infrastructures of our societies, and the size of these systems in terms of length as well as asset value is usually vast. Accordingly, the annual rehabilitation and replacement costs for sewer networks are very high in many countries. In addition, failures of wastewater systems can cause severe health and environmental problems, making the durability of these infrastructures an issue of crucial societal importance. A substantial fraction of the deterioration of sewers is caused by microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) of concrete structures in the networks, and, thus, understanding the causes of this process is crucial to be able to effectively direct resources for rehabilitation, replacement and construction of sewer systems. Because of the importance of the problem, it has been studied for many decades, and significant progress has been made during this time. In recent years, answers to several previously underexplored questions, for example regarding the validity of the different test methods to assess the resistance of cementitious materials against MIC and the suitability of new cementitious materials for sewer repair, have begun to emerge. The present contribution gives an overview over the processes involved in MIC of cementitious materials in sewers, and reviews recent findings concerning the resistance of cementitious materials against MIC. The data indicate that alkali-activated materials can exhibit exceptionally high resistance against MIC, while it is presently not fully understood which mix design parameters deter¬mine this resistance. Disagreement exists in the literature regarding the causes of the generally high resistance of calcium aluminate cements. Significant progress has been made in determining the deterioration rate of cementitious materials under strongly corroding conditions, but well-founded approaches to classify the severity of MIC attack in sewers seem not to be available at present. T2 - MICxUS 2025 – Symposium on Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC) in Industrial and Utility Systems CY - Nicosia, Cyprus DA - 21.01.2025 KW - MIC KW - Cement KW - Repair mortar KW - Sulfuric acid KW - Sewers PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-62738 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Hydro-Touch test - Evaluation of Transfer of Microorganisms to Non-porous Surfaces and their antimicrobial Activity N2 - This presentation describes a new test procedure that allows to determine the transfer of microorganisms to surfaces and to measure the antimicrobial efficacy of those surfaces. The main improvement of the method is that is assesses the effect of the surfaces under semi-dry, realistic conditions by transferring microorganisms via a gelatin pad linked to a stamp of defined weight. Comparing the performance of the established antimicrobial materials with currently used wet test methods and the newly developed method shows reduced antimicrobial activity of those materials under semi-dry conditions. T2 - 64. Sitzung des DIN NA 176-03-06 AA „Chemische Desinfektionsmittel und Antiseptika in der Humanmedizin“ CY - Online meeting DA - 29.09.2025 KW - Antimicrobial surfaces KW - Standardization PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64870 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nordholt, Niclas T1 - Phenotypic heterogeneity in bacterial lag times and antibiotic tolerance induced by the disinfectant glutaraldehydePhenotypic heterogeneity in bacterial lag times and antibiotic tolerance induced by the disinfectant glutaraldehyde N2 - Phenotypic heterogeneity in clonal bacterial populations can be considered a preliminary stage of functional differentiation, which may increase population fitness in fluctuating environments. Here, we investigated how transient exposure of clonal bacterial populations to residual amounts of a commonly used disinfectant, glutaraldehyde (GTA), induces phenotypic heterogeneity, ensuring survival of the population upon sudden challenge with high doses of antibiotics. Using the ScanLag system, we found that exposure to GTA resulted in wide lag-time distributions across different bacterial isolates of E. coli, S. aureus, and P. aeruginosa. Importantly, this was associated with elevated levels of survival (i.e. tolerance) towards lethal doses of antibiotics. As revealed by RNAseq in E. coli, GTA exposure caused global transcriptome remodeling, with more than 1200 differentially expressed genes of diverse biological functions. Several of these genes that were not previously associated with antibiotic tolerance or persistence induced, when overexpressed alone, antibiotic tolerance without showing a lag phenotype. This suggests that exposure to GTA induces unspecific, lag-dependent and specific, lag-independent tolerance to antibiotics in clonal bacterial populations. These findings have implications for 1.) settings where disinfectants and antibiotics are used in close proximity, such as hospitals and animal husbandry, and 2.) for the selection dynamics of tolerant pheno- and genotypes in fluctuating environments because of the trade-off that arises from exiting lag and resuming growth as fast as possible and maintaining antibiotic tolerance. This trade-off may be weakened by phenotypically heterogeneous clonal populations as induced by GTA. T2 - FAST REAL Project Meeting Tartu CY - Tartu, Estonia DA - 16.06.2025 KW - Biocides KW - Biocide resistance KW - Phenotypic heterogeneity KW - Glutaraldehyde KW - Disinfectants PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63834 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kanaris, Orestis T1 - Identification of metabolic niches and their association to the persistence of antibiotic resistant bacteria in wastewater N2 - Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are hotspots for the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial resistant bacteria (ARB) can persist in the environment for long periods of time, despite metabolic fitness costs that often arise with resistance. Recent research efforts are striving to uncover the role of bacterial metabolism for the ecology and evolution of antibiotic resistance. The aim of this study is to understand the ecological mechanisms, which allow ARB to persist in the environment. More specifically, we aim to identify metabolic niches that can select for and against resistant bacteria. 62 E. coli strains isolated from different WWTPs with different levels of resistance to 14 antibiotics and 3 disinfectants were assembled, sequenced, and phenotypically characterized. Next, genome scale metabolic models (GEMs) were constructed, and the growth of the strains was simulated in the presence of 298 different carbon sources. Furthermore, the growth rates of the isolates were measured in the presence of 3 carbon sources to verify the model predictions. Competition experiments with synthetic microbial communities consisting of a selection of 10 WWTP isolates, 5 of which were antibiotic resistant and 5 sensitive, were carried out in minimal medium with different carbon sources. Population dynamics modelling was used to simulate the competition of isolates under different conditions. The isolates have a wide range of susceptibility to the antibiotics, while disinfectants result in a narrower range of susceptibility. GEMs identified 40 carbon sources that can be utilized for growth only by a portion of all the isolates. The prediction accuracy of the GEMs was 93% in the case of D-malate. A range of WWTP isolates were identified which use D-malate as carbon source and are susceptible to specific antibiotics. In contrast, antibiotic-resistant WWTP isolates were identified that did use sucrose as carbon source but not D-malate. Competition experiments demonstrated that changing the carbon source of the medium from sucrose to D-malate resulted in selection against the resistant isolates. Modelling the competition between isolates under different conditions suggests that adding a carbon source to a bacterial community under specific conditions could exclude resistant bacteria from a microbial community. Our data suggest that changing the available carbon source could shift the selection advantage between resistant and susceptible bacterial strains. If this strategy is confirmed experimentally in complex microbial communities, it could be applied to reduce the number of ARB in environments such as wastewater. T2 - FEMS micro Konferenz CY - Milan, Italy DA - 14.07.2025 KW - AMR KW - Wastewater KW - Genome-scale metabolic model PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64659 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Marano, Roberto T1 - A Customizable Procedure for Predicting Antibiotic Resistance Selection on Novel Antimicrobial Coatings N2 - The global burden of antimicrobial resistance (AR) has manifested in an increasing number of deaths attributable to antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) in recent years, with projections indicating a continued rise. Combating AR requires a multifaceted approach, one aspect of which involves preventing the spread of ARB in hospital environments via high-touch surfaces, which are known contributors to nosocomial infections. In conjunction with routine disinfection protocols and infection prevention measures, antimicrobial surfaces or antimicrobial coatings (AC) are increasingly being investigated and implemented to reduce microbial transmission via high-touch surfaces, thereby mitigating their spread in healthcare settings. However, similar to antibiotics, prolonged use of such surfaces may lead to the direct or indirect selection of ARB. To prevent this, targeted tests must be developed to predict potential AR selection before AC implementation. Materials and Methods As part of the Horizon-Europe-funded project "STOP" (Grant Agreement ID: 101057961), a novel antimicrobial coating is being developed and tested to reduce pathogen transfer on surfaces without selecting for ARB. To this end, two bacterial libraries (80 strains each) were assembled from the two species most associated with AR-attributable mortality worldwide, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, as identified in the most recent comprehensive study [1]. Each library maintains a 50/50% ratio of strains resistant or sensitive to third-generation cephalosporins (E. coli) and methicillin (S. aureus), respectively—representing two of the most widespread resistance profiles. An adapted ISO 22196 method was developed using a reference benchmark antimicrobial surface (i.e., copper), with stainless steel serving as a control. The goal was to infer potential advantages of copper-unrelated antibiotic resistance phenotypes on the tested surface. Results Metadata, genomic data, and antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) data were collected for all selected strains in each library, ensuring diversity in sequence types (ST) of clinical relevance, antibiotic resistance gene profiles, and geographical origins. The method was calibrated on copper surfaces using a reference E. coli strain, establishing the initial parameters required for investigators to customize the test for a given AC. Procedural reproducibility was assessed by comparing results from independent operators. Discussion The two libraries are currently being screened against the selected copper surfaces to identify potential associations between the resistance phenotypes of the tested species and their observed survival rates post-exposure. Three mutually exclusive outcomes are anticipated: (i) a statistically significant survival advantage of resistant strains compared to sensitive strains, (ii) an inverse scenario where sensitive strains exhibit higher survival, or (iii) no significant difference between the two groups. Furthermore, post hoc principal component analysis utilizing metadata and AST data may help elucidate genetic traits that confer a survival advantage on the tested AC. Conclusions This test aims to assist developers of antimicrobial coatings and materials in assessing potential selective pressures toward ARB before these products are implemented and evaluated under real-life conditions. T2 - ESB Conference CY - Torino, Italy DA - 07.09.2025 KW - Antimicrobial-resistance KW - Surface antimicrobial testing KW - Materials testing PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64569 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kanaris, Orestis T1 - Metabolic niches and persistence of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment N2 - Background and Aim: Wastewater treatment plants are considered as hotspots for the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial resistant bacteria (ARB) can persist in the environment for long periods of time, despite metabolic fitness costs that can arise with resistance. We are interested in understanding the mechanisms, which allow ARB to persist in the environment. More specifically, we want to identify metabolic niches that can select for resistant bacteria. Procedure/Method: 62 E. coli strains isolated from different WWTPs in Norway were used. The isolates have different levels of resistance to 14 antibiotics. The susceptibility of the isolates to 3 disinfectants was determined. In addition, genome scale metabolic models (GEMs) were constructed and the growth of the strains was simulated in the presence of 198 different carbon sources. Furthermore, the growth rates of the isolates were measured in the presence of 3 carbon sources. Findings/Results: Many of the isolates have high resistance to multiple antibiotics but only few of the isolates have higher minimum inhibitory concentrations to the disinfectants, compared to an E. coli laboratory strain. With the GEMs, we identified 40 carbon sources that can be utilized for growth only by a portion of all the isolates. The prediction accuracy of the GEMs was 93% in the case of D-Malate. A group of 10 isolates was identified of which 5 isolates are resistant to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin and tetracycline and can grow on Sucrose but not on D-Malate and the other 5 isolates are susceptible to the same 3 antibiotics but can grow on D-Malate and not on Sucrose. Implications/Applications: Our data suggest that changing the available carbon source could shift the selection advantage between resistant and susceptible bacterial strains. If this strategy is confirmed experimentally, it could be applied to reduce the number of ARB in environments such as wastewater. T2 - International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation Symposium 19 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 09.09.2024 KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Wastewater PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61412 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Marano, Roberto T1 - Antimicrobial coatings: modes of action, microbiological efficacy testing, and resistance evolution N2 - Within the Horizon-Europe funded project “STOP: Surface Transfer Of Pathogens”, Grant agreement 101057961, Working Package 6 is currently working on developing tests aimed at predicting possible selection and/or evolution of antibiotic resistance onto antimicrobial coatings meant for high-touch surfaces. This presentation describes the devised protocols and the preliminary results of their application on copper as a benchmark antimicrobial material. T2 - STOP-project Meeting CY - Sofia, Bulgaria DA - 27.02.2025 KW - Antimicrobial-resistance KW - Surface antimicrobial testing KW - Materials testing PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64567 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Mechanisms and evolution of resistance to antimicrobial biocides N2 - Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health problem with the environment being an important compartment for the evolution, selection and transmission of AMR. These processes are impacted by pollution with antibiotics. However, antimicrobial biocides used as disinfectants and material preservatives are major pollutants exceeding the antibiotic market in terms of chemical diversity and mass. The aim of our work is to understand the mechanisms and risks of biocides for resistance and antibiotic cross-resistance evolution in bacteria to optimize their application and safeguard their efficacy. Our work shows that biocides have the potential to affect evolutionary processes towards AMR by increasing the rates of de-novo mutation and conjugation. Importantly, widely used compounds such as chlorhexidine and quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) affect rates of mutation and conjugation at environmentally relevant concentrations. Furthermore, we show that single-cell phenotypic heterogeneity regarding tolerance (persistence) determines survival against specific biocides including QACs and isopropanol. Mechanistic investigations reveal that known antibiotic persister mechanisms contribute to persister formation to biocides. The evolution of high-level tolerance to different biocides is linked to the initial persister level and the evolution of specific genetically encoded mechanisms related to properties of the cell envelope. Biocide-tolerant strains have a selective advantage in the presence of environmentally-relevant concentrations of antibiotics, which could lead to the stabilization of biocide tolerance in environments where biocides and antibiotics co-occur (e.g. wastewater, animal stables). Taken together, our work shows the importance of assessing the contribution of biocides on evolution and selection of AMR in the environment. T2 - EMBO Symposium on Mechanisms of drug resistance and tolerance in bacteria, fungi, and cancer CY - Heidelberg, Germany DA - 18.03.2025 KW - Antimicrobial surfaces KW - Biocides KW - Antimicrobial resistance PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64866 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Marano, Roberto T1 - Antimicrobial coatings: modes of action, microbiological efficacy testing, and resistance evolution N2 - Antimicrobial coatings and materials on high touch surfaces can provide additional level of protection to periodic disinfection cycles by reducing bacterial loads. However, different coatings and materials assert their antimicrobial activity in different ways, and it is not clear whether they could pose detrimental selective pressure towards antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This talk elucidates modes of actions and current knowledge gaps in testing antimicrobial resistance on antimicrobial surfaces.” T2 - STOP Antimicrobial Coating Conference CY - Mons, Belgium DA - 05.12.2024 KW - Antimicrobial-resistance KW - Surface antimicrobial testing KW - Materials testing PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64566 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Marano, Roberto T1 - A Customizable Procedure for Predicting Antibiotic Resistance Selection on Novel Antimicrobial Coatings N2 - This presentation introduceda new methodological approach developed to test antimocrobials implemented on high touch surfaces, inlcuding preliminary results on its use on reference antimicrobial materials. The seminar was organized by the 'Fast-real' project, funded by the Horizon Europe (project ID: 101159721). T2 - Novel strategies and considerations in fighting pathogens CY - Tartu, Estonia DA - 16.06.2025 KW - Antimicrobial-resistance KW - Surface antimicrobial testing KW - Materials testing PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64568 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Resistance evolution towards biocides and antimicrobial surfaces N2 - Biocides, including disinfectants and antimicrobial surfaces (AMCs), are important to prevent the spread of pathogens and antimicrobial resistant bacteria via surfaces. However, concerns have been raised about the evolution and selection of resistance against disinfectants and AMCs. In turn, resistance against disinfectants and AMCs can be associated to antibiotic resistance due to cross-resistance and co-resistance. We need to understand the mechanisms and risks of disinfectants and AMCs for resistance and cross-resistance evolution to optimize their application and safeguard their long-term efficacy. We used adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) experiments based on repeated exposure of bacteria to disinfectants. Our results show that repeated disinfection of E. coli with benzalkonium chloride in suspension results in a 2000-fold increase in survival within 5 exposure cycles. Adaption is linked to the initial presence of persister cells highly tolerant to benzalkonium chloride. We used the same approach to develop standardizable ALE experiments to determine resistance evolution to AMCs. The results highlight rapid adaptation of E. coli and P. aeruginosa towards copper surfaces. Moreover, there are multiple situations in the clinic or in the environment in which biocides and antibiotics co-occur and in which combination effects can shape their antimicrobial activity or their selective effects. Our work with P. aeruginosa shows prevalent combination effects of biocides and antibiotics, ranging from synergy to antagonism and resulting in the selection for or against antibiotic resistant strains. The combination effects are dependent on the biofilm mode-of-growth, manifesting in apparent differences in the structural arrangement of antibiotic sensitive and resistant strains in biofilms exposed to combinations. Furthermore, biocides affect rates of mutation and horizontal gene transfer, thereby having a potential facilitating effect on resistance evolution. Taken together, our work shows that the role of biocides as potential drivers of resistance evolution and selection deserves further study and regulative action. T2 - Eurobiofilms 2022 CY - Palma, Spain DA - 31.08.2022 KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Bacteria KW - Biofilms KW - Biocides KW - Antimicrobial surfaces PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-55608 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Biocides as drivers for the evolution of antimicrobial resistance N2 - This presentation provides an overview about how biocides drive the evolution of antimicrobial resistance during application and as pollutants in the environment. The presentation shows that biocides can lead to heterogeneous killing, facilitating tolerance evolution. This evolution is related to decreased susceptibility to antibiotics and has potential for co-selection. In contrast, evolved tolerance can limit antibiotic evolvability via epistatic interactions. Moreover, biocides can co-select for antibiotic resistance in wastewater and affect rates of mutation and horizontal gene transfer. Biocides and antibiotics show strong combination effects with consequences for selection of antibiotic resistance. T2 - Novel strategies and considerations in fighting pathogens CY - Tartu, Estonia DA - 16.06.2025 KW - Antimicrobial surfaces KW - Biocides KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Standardization PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64867 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Biocides as drivers for the Selection and evolution of antimicrobial resistance N2 - Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health problem with the environment being an important compartment for the evolution, selection and transmission of AMR. These processes are impacted by pollution with antibiotics. However, antimicrobial biocides used as disinfectants and material preservatives are major pollutants exceeding the antibiotic market in terms of chemical diversity and mass. The aim of our work is to understand the mechanisms and risks of biocides for resistance and antibiotic cross-resistance evolution in bacteria to optimize their application and safeguard their efficacy. We use adaptive laboratory evolution experiments, phenotypic characterization, single-cell analysis, whole genome sequencing, and competition experiments to investigate AMR evolution and selection of the model organism E. coli in the presence of biocides. Our work shows that biocides have the potential to affect evolutionary processes towards AMR by increasing the rates of de-novo mutation and conjugation. Importantly, widely used compounds such as chlorhexidine and quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) affect rates of mutation and conjugation at environmentally relevant concentrations. Furthermore, we show that single-cell phenotypic heterogeneity regarding tolerance (persistence) determines survival against specific biocides including QACs and isopropanol. Mechanistic investigations reveal that known antibiotic persister mechanisms contribute to persister formation to biocides. The evolution of high-level tolerance to different biocides is linked to the initial persister level and the evolution of specific genetically encoded mechanisms related to properties of the cell envelope. Biocide-tolerant strains have a selective advantage in the presence of environmentally-relevant concentrations of antibiotics, which could lead to the stabilization of biocide tolerance in environments where biocides and antibiotics co-occur (e.g. wastewater, animal stables). Taken together, our work shows the importance of assessing the contribution of biocides on evolution and selection of AMR in the environment. T2 - 10th Symposium on Antimicrobial Resistance in Animals and the Environment (ARAE) CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 30.06.2025 KW - Antimicrobial surfaces KW - Biocides KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Standardization PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64869 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Biocides as drivers for the evolution of antimicrobial resistance N2 - This presentation provides an overview about how biocides drive the evolution of antimicrobial resistance during application and as pollutants in the environment. The presentation shows that biocides can lead to heterogeneous killing, facilitating tolerance evolution. This evolution is related to decreased susceptibility to antibiotics and has potential for co-selection. In contrast, evolved tolerance can limit antibiotic evolvability via epistatic interactions. Moreover, biocides can co-select for antibiotic resistance in wastewater and affect rates of mutation and horizontal gene transfer. Biocides and antibiotics show strong combination effects with consequences for selection of antibiotic resistance. T2 - Vorstellungsvortrag zur Habilitation FU Berlin CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 15.05.2025 KW - Antimicrobial surfaces KW - Biocides KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Standardization PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64873 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Resistance evolution to antimicrobial biocides N2 - This talk discusses resistance evolution to antimicrobial biocides. It shows (i) that biocides show heterogeneous killing facilitating tolerance evolution, (ii) that serial transfer at subinhibitory concentrations is not appropriate to model evolutionary adaptation to disinfection, (iii) that biocides affect rates of mutation and horizontal gene transfer Biocides, and (iv) that antibiotics show strong combination effects. T2 - Evolutionary Biology meets the Antibiotic Crisis vol. 2 CY - Plön, Germany DA - 24.09.2024 KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Bacteria KW - Standardization KW - Biocides PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61545 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Dr. Frank Schreiber and Work on Biocide Resistance at BAM N2 - This talk details the career path of Dr. Frank Schreiber and his work on biocide resistance at BAM. Biocides are antimicrobial products for defined applications (disinfectants, preservatives, pest control). Biocides show heterogeneous killing facilitating resistance/tolerance evolution. Adaptation to biocides has effects on growth and selection. T2 - Vortrag an der Berliner Hochschule für Technik CY - Berlin, Gemany DA - 07.06.2024 KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Bacteria KW - Standardization KW - Biocides PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61543 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Biocides as drivers for the evolution and selection of antimicrobial resistance N2 - This presentation provides an overview about how biocides drive the evolution of antimicrobial resistance during application and as pollutants in the environment. The presentation shows that biocides can lead to heterogeneous killing, facilitating tolerance evolution. This evolution is related to decreased susceptibility to antibiotics and has potential for co-selection. In contrast, evolved tolerance can limit antibiotic evolvability via epistatic interactions. Moreover, biocides can co-select for antibiotic resistance in wastewater and affect rates of mutation and horizontal gene transfer. Biocides and antibiotics show strong combination effects with consequences for selection of antibiotic resistance. T2 - 12. Dresdner Wasserseminar ' Wasser und Verunreinigung' CY - Dresden, Germany DA - 26.06.2025 KW - Antimicrobial surfaces KW - Biocides KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Standardization PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64868 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Beyond Antibiotics – Biocides as Drivers of Environmental AMR N2 - This presentation provides an overview about how biocides drive the evolution of antimicrobial resistance during application and as pollutants in the environment. It also discusses the contribution of biocides for the environmental transmission of AMR. T2 - OneBridge: Making environmental AMR Surveillance Fit for Purpose: Data Integration and the Ecology of Resistance CY - Dresden, Germany DA - 06.10.205 KW - Antimicrobial surfaces KW - Biocides KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Standardization PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64872 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schmidt, Selina T1 - Antimicrobial resistance in soil microbes mediated by resistance evolution and horizontal gene transfer (HGT) N2 - Biocides are in contact with soils through direct application and passive leaching from protected materials. Consequently, soil microorganisms are exposed to biocides even though they are not their primary targets. Soil is a large reservoir of microbial diversity and has been hypothesized to be a crucial factor for the evolution and spread of antimicrobial resistance. Currently, there is little knowledge on how biocides used to protect materials affect the evolution and spread of resistance. Thus, our aim is to investigate the risk for the evolution of biocide resistance and cross-resistance to antibiotics. In addition, we aim to elucidate the affect of biocides on the spread of resistance via horizontal gene transfer (HGT). In adaptive laboratory evolution experiments we cultured selected model soil microorganism with representative biocides under selection regimes with increasing and stable biocide concentrations followed by antibiotic and biocide cross-resistance determination. Moreover, we investigate if the selected biocides affect the rates of de novo mutations and HGT of plasmids that carry resistance genes among soil microorganism. Our results show only small increases of biocide resistance during serial transfers under increasing biocide concentrations. One reason for this might be the narrow selective window for biocide resistance due to steep dose-response relationships. Furthermore, our results indicate that a stable low-level biocide regime did not select for high level cross-resistance to antibiotics and other biocides. Moreover, material preservatives affected the rates of HGT via conjugation and the mutation rates at sub-inhibitory concentrations. The results will enable future risk assessment regarding resistance evolution for biocides used as material preservatives. T2 - 4th Evo Eco PhD Meeting CY - Lutherstadt Wittenberg DA - 04.03.2020 KW - Microbiology KW - Biocides KW - Horizontal gene transfer HGT KW - Resistance evolution KW - Antimicrobial resistance PY - 2020 AN - OPUS4-51313 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nordholt, Niclas T1 - Persistence against benzalkonium chloride promotes rapid evolution of tolerance under periodic disinfection N2 - A presentation given at the VAAM conference 2022, summarizing our findings published in the research paper "Persistence against benzalkonium chloride promotes rapid evolution of tolerance under periodic disinfection" T2 - Annual conference of the association for general and applied microbiology (VAAM) 2022 CY - Düsseldorf, Germany DA - 21.02.2022 KW - Persistence KW - Biocides KW - Evolution KW - Cross-resistance KW - Biocide tolerance KW - Disinfection PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-54437 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nordholt, Niclas T1 - Phenotypic heterogeneity in bacterial lag times and antibiotic tolerance induced by the disinfectant glutaraldehyde N2 - Phenotypic heterogeneity in clonal bacterial populations can be considered a preliminary stage of functional differentiation, which may increase population fitness in fluctuating environments. Here, we investigated how transient exposure of clonal bacterial populations to residual amounts of a commonly used disinfectant, glutaraldehyde (GTA), induces phenotypic heterogeneity, ensuring survival of the population upon sudden challenge with high doses of antibiotics. Using the ScanLag system, we found that exposure to GTA resulted in wide lag-time distributions across different bacterial isolates of E. coli, S. aureus, and P. aeruginosa. Importantly, this was associated with elevated levels of survival (i.e. tolerance) towards lethal doses of antibiotics. As revealed by RNAseq in E. coli, GTA exposure caused global transcriptome remodeling, with more than 1200 differentially expressed genes of diverse biological functions. Several of these genes that were not previously associated with antibiotic tolerance or persistence induced, when overexpressed alone, antibiotic tolerance without showing a lag phenotype. This suggests that exposure to GTA induces unspecific, lag-dependent and specific, lag-independent tolerance to antibiotics in clonal bacterial populations. These findings have implications for 1.) settings where disinfectants and antibiotics are used in close proximity, such as hospitals and animal husbandry, and 2.) for the selection dynamics of tolerant pheno- and genotypes in fluctuating environments because of the trade-off that arises from exiting lag and resuming growth as fast as possible and maintaining antibiotic tolerance. This trade-off may be weakened by phenotypically heterogeneous clonal populations as induced by GTA. T2 - 1st International Conference on Emergent Functions of Bacterial Multicellularity CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 06.01.2025 KW - Disinfectants KW - Biocides KW - Phenotypic heterogeneity PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-62462 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nordholt, Niclas T1 - The disinfectant glutaraldehyde induces antibiotic tolerance underpinned by Phenotypic Heterogeneity and transcriptome remodeling N2 - Glutaraldehyde (GTA) is commonly used to disinfect medical equipment, in animal husbandry and in hydraulic fracturing. Its wide use bears the risk that microorganisms in different environments are exposed to potentially non-lethal doses of glutaraldehyde. To date, little is known about the effects of glutaraldehyde on the susceptibility of bacteria to antibiotics and its role in the selection of tolerant phenotypes. Objectives • To determine the effect of glutaraldehyde exposure on the survival of E. coli, S. aureus and P. aeruginosa to antibiotics • To find the mechanistic basis for antibiotic tolerance upon glutaraldehyde exposure Materials & Methods Four bacterial isolates were exposed to sub-inhibitory glutaraldehyde. Antibiotic tolerance was determined by time-kill assays. Regrowth dynamics (lag times) were determined with ScanLag. E. coli was further investigated, using RNAseq to identify genes and processes involved in antibiotic tolerance. Mutants of candidate genes were screened for their antibiotic tolerance and heterogeneous target gene expression under stressed and unstressed conditions. Results Short-term exposure to sub-inhibitory levels of glutaraldehyde induced tolerance to high doses of bactericidal antibiotics. Tolerance to antibiotics was associated with highly heterogeneous regrowth dynamics and global transcriptome remodeling. Differentially expressed genes represented diverse biological functions and cellular components, including antibiotic efflux, metabolic processes, and the cell envelope. The heterogeneous regrowth dynamics and the diversity of the differentially expressed genes are likely related to the unspecific mode-of-action of glutaraldehyde. Among the many differentially expressed genes, several genes were identified that were not previously associated with antibiotic tolerance or persistence, which, when overexpressed alone, increased antibiotic tolerance. Conclusion Our results highlight how the big advantage of a disinfectant, its unspecific mode-of-action, can induce transient tolerance to antibiotics in bacteria. These findings have implications for 1.) settings where disinfectants and antibiotics are used in proximity, such as hospitals and animal husbandry, and 2.) for the selection dynamics of tolerant bacteria in fluctuating environments because of the trade-off that arises from overcoming the lag phase as fast as possible and maintaining antibiotic tolerance. T2 - VAAM Jahrestagung 2023 CY - Göttingen, Germany DA - 10.09.2023 KW - Glutaraldehyde KW - Disinfectants KW - Biocides KW - Antibiotics KW - Bacteria PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58439 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Resistance evolution towards biocides and antimicrobial surfaces N2 - This talk discusses resistance evolution towards biocides and antimicrobial surfaces. It shows (i) that biocides affect rates of mutation and horizontal gene transfer, (ii) that biocides show heterogeneous killing facilitating tolerance evolution, and (iii) that biocides and antibiotics show strong combination effect on growth and selection. T2 - STOP project internal seminar CY - Online meeting DA - 24.04.2024 KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Bacteria KW - Standardization KW - Biocides KW - Antimicrobial surfaces PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61546 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Physiological and evolutionary consequences of exposing Pseudomonas aeruginosa to biocide-antibiotic combinations N2 - Antimicrobials can exert specific physiological effects when used in combination that are different from those when applied alone. These effects include physiological effects (i.e. synergy, antagonism and suppression) as well as evolutionary effects on the selection of resistant strains (i.e. cross-resistance and collateral sensitivity). While combination effects have been extensively mapped for antibiotic-antibiotic combinations, the combination effects of antibiotics with antimicrobials used as biocides or antiseptics have not been systematically investigated. Here, we investigated the physiological and evolutionary consequences of combinations of antibiotics (meropenem, gentamicin and ciprofloxacin) and substances used as biocides or antiseptics (octenidine, benzalkonium chloride, cetrimonium bromide, chlorhexidine, povidone-iodine, silver) on growth and selection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We find prevalent physiological combination effects with synergy occurring 6 times and antagonism occurring 10 times. The effects are specific to the antibiotic-biocide combination with meropenem showing a tendency for antagonism with biocides (6 of 7), while gentamicin has a tendency for synergy (5 of 7). A particular strong antagonism is apparent for the meropenem-chlorhexidine combination, for which we conducted an in-depth study on the underlying molecular mechanism using RNASeq. Moreover, we find widespread effects of the biocide-antibiotic combinations on selection of P. aeruginosa strains resistant to the antibiotics, including cross-resistance and collateral sensitivity. In conclusion, antibiotics and biocides or antiseptics exert physiological and evolutionary combination effects on the pathogen P. aeruginosa. These effects have consequences for the efficacy of both types of substances and for the selection of antimicrobial resistant strains in clinical applications with combined exposure (e.g. wound care, coated biomaterials). T2 - Antimicrobial Resistance in Biofilms and on Biomaterials CY - Online meeting DA - 10.06.2021 KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Antimicrobial coating KW - Biofilms PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-53162 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nordholt, Niclas T1 - Consequences of BAC tolerance for selection and evolution in the presence of antibiotics N2 - The exposure to antimicrobial substances drives the evolution of antimicrobial resistance. Biocides are antimicrobials used as disinfectants, antiseptics and preservatives. They find application on a large scale in the industrial and medical sector, but also in private households. In terms of mass, the worldwide use of biocides exceeds that of antibiotics. Thus, despite their important role in preventing the spread of pathogens, due to their ubiquity, biocides are suspected to be drivers of the antimicrobial resistance crisis. In our work at BAM we try to understand how biocides contribute to the emergence of AMR, what the underlying adaptation principles and mechanisms are and how they compare to those found for antibiotics. Within our group, I mainly focus on the following two questions: How does phenotypic heterogeneity in bacteria affect the ability to survive treatment with biocides? And what are the consequences of phenotypic heterogeneity for the evolution of resistance to biocides and antibiotics? I will share published and unpublished results which demonstrate that phenotypic heterogeneity can enable the survival of biocide treatment and, through this, facilitate the evolution of AMR. On the other hand, we find that adaptation to a biocide can unexpectedly impair the ability to evolve resistance against an antibiotic. T2 - FEMS summer school for postdocs 2022: Microbial Evolvability Mechanisms: Resistance, Biology, and Strategies to Defeat and Detect CY - Split, Croatia DA - 27.04.2022 KW - Disinfection KW - Biocides KW - Evolution KW - Resistance KW - Biocide tolerance PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-54846 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nordholt, Niclas T1 - Progress on STOP-project WP5 and WP6 at BAM N2 - An overview of the progress that has been made on testing of antimicrobial efficacy and method development in the STOP project at BAM. T2 - STOP project meeting 09/2024 CY - Bukarest, Romania DA - 18.09.2024 KW - Antimicrobial surfaces KW - ISO22196 PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61178 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schmidt, Selina T1 - Effect of biocides on the evolution and spread of resistance N2 - Biocides used as material preservatives are in contact with various environments during direct application or passive leaching from protected materials. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health problem and the environment is an important compartment for the evolution and transmission of AMR. Soil is an environment with a large reservoir of natural microbial communities and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes. Those natural microbial communities are frequently exposed to biocides used as material preservatives. Previous studies have shown that antibiotics, metals and pesticides affect the underlying processes of resistance evolution and spread; namely de novo mutagenesis and horizontal gene transfer by conjugation and transformation in microbial communities. However, it is unknown if active substances used in material preservatives are involved in these processes. We show that biocides used as material preservatives affect rates of mutation and conjugation in microorganism in a species- and substance-dependent manner, while rates of transformation are not directly affected. Our data highlights the importance of assessing the contribution of material preservatives on AMR evolution and spread in the environment. T2 - Microbiome Network Meeting CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 20.07.2022 KW - Biocides KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Horizontal gene transfer KW - Mutation rate PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56426 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Sobisch, Lydia-Yasmin T1 - Biocide resistance evolution of corrosion causing sulfate reducing bacteria N2 - SRB are environmentally and industrially important microorganisms. The disadvantage of their metabolic activity (e.g. sulfate reduction) results in the formation of toxic sulfide that leads to microbial influenced corrosion. SRB have been responsible for biocorrosion of ferrous metal. One of mitigation strategy is the use of biocides. However, it has been shown that various bacteria develop antimicrobial resistance due to excessive use of biocides. Thus, a deeper understanding of the evolution of biocide resistance of SRB is necessary. Three commonly used biocides, THPS, BAC, and GLUT were applied to investigate the susceptibility of Desulfovibrio alaskensis G20.The minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentration and the killing kinetics of the three biocides was determined. These results will be used to conduct evolution experiments to determine the evolution of resistance towards biocides of SRBs. The outcome of this work can be helpful to improve the management of MIC treatments. T2 - Panel, Pitch & Popcorn by EUROMIC CY - Online meeting DA - 21.06.2021 KW - Biocide KW - Evolution KW - Mircobially influcenced corrosion KW - Sulfate reducing bacteria PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-56940 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Biocides As Drivers For Antimicrobial Resistance Evolution In The Environment N2 - Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health problem with the environment being an important compartment for the evolution, selection and transmission of AMR. These processes are impacted by pollution with antibiotics. However, biocides used as disinfectants and material preservatives are major pollutants by far excceding the market for antibiotics in terms of mass. Our work shows that biocides have the potential to affect evolutionary processes towards AMR by increasing the rates of de-novo mutation and conjugation. These effects depend on the species and biocidal substance. Importantly, chlorhexidine and quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) affect rates of mutation and conjugation at environmentally relevant concentrations in E. coli. Moreover, our results show a connection between the RpoS-mediated general stress and the RecA-linked SOS response with increased rates of mutation and conjugation, but not for all biocides. Furthermore, our work highlights the potential of biocides to contribute to selection and transmission of AMR. We show that the application of biocides, especially QAC disinfectants, leads to the rapid evolution of tolerance (i.e. increased survival) in adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) experiments. The evolved tolerant strains have a selective advantage in the presence of environmentally-relevant concentrations of antibiotics, which could lead to the stabilization of biocide tolerance in environments where biocides and antibiotics co-occur (e.g. wastewater, animal stables). ALE experiments with biocide tolerant strains indicate a decreased evolvability of resistance to antibiotics. Taken together, our work shows the importance of assessing the contribution of biocides on evolution, selection and transmission of AMR in the environment. T2 - 6th Environmental Dimension of Antibiotic Resistance (EDAR6) CY - Gothenburg, Sweden DA - 22.09.2022 KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Antimicrobial coating KW - Biofilms KW - Biocides KW - Risk assessment PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56262 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Resistance evolution towards biocides and antimicrobial surfaces N2 - This talk discusses the work at BAM concerning Resistance evolution towards biocides and antimicrobial surfaces. It shows (i) that biocides affect rates of mutation and horizontal gene transfer, (ii) that biocides show heterogeneous killing facilitating tolerance evolution, and (iii) that biocides and antibiotics show strong combination effect on growth and selection. T2 - Exchange seminar with Nottingham Trent University CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 03.09.2024 KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Bacteria KW - Standardization KW - Biocides KW - Antimicrobial surfaces PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61548 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nordholt, Niclas T1 - Phenotypic heterogeneity in disinfection: sources and consequences for antimicrobial resistance N2 - A summary of projects here at BAM which investigate the influence of phenotypic heterogeneity on the outcome of disinfection and the influence on antimicrobial resistance. This presentation was given in the Theory Seminar of the Quantitative and Theoretical Biology group of Prof. Oliver Ebenhöh at HHU Düsseldorf T2 - Theory Seminar in the Quantitative and Theoretical Biology group at HHU Düsseldorf CY - Düsseldorf, Germany DA - 24.02.2022 KW - Disinfection KW - Biocides KW - Heterogeneity KW - Resistance PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-54442 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Deland, Eric T1 - Environmental conditions affect the corrosion product composition of Methanogen induced microbiologically influenced corrosion (Mi-MIC) N2 - Corrosion is a very expensive and serious problem in the different industry sectors, eg. Petroleum-, On- and off-shore, infrastructure. It is estimated that 20% of all corrosion damage is caused by microorganisms or microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC). Several microorganisms are known to cause corrosion, including sulfate-reducing bacteria, nitrate-reducing bacteria, methanogens etc. For several years, methanogens were regarded as a mild corroder (~0.065 mm/yr), largely due to a lack of detailed investigation on the corrosion mechanism under real-environment simulated conditions. Resulting in the common belief that siderite, a non-conductive compound, is the sole corrosion product (CP) of methanogen-induced MIC (Mi-MIC). To simulate natural environmental conditions, we developed and introduced the multiport flow column system (MFC), a multi-sectional corrosion flow-cell. Using the MFC, we obtained ten times higher corrosion rates than previously reported. With a combination of several analytical techniques, such as ToF-SIMS, SEM-EDS and FIB-SEM, we found strong indication that siderite is not the sole corrosion product of Mi-MIC. The corrosion layers contained phosphorus, oxygen, magnesium, calcium and iron. The differences in the CP between static and dynamic environments demonstrated the impact of testing procedures on the corrosive potential of methanogens. To further verify and deepen our understanding of Mi-MIC, we are currently studying the influence of additional environmental parameters (e.g. pH, salinity, flow rate) on Mi-MIC. Overall, results of this study will expand the current understanding of MIC from both analytical and mechanistic points of view, thus aiding the development of different mitigation strategies for various industry sectors. T2 - ISMOS-8 CY - Online meeting DA - 08.06.2021 KW - Methanogen-induced microbiologically influenced corrosion KW - Carbon steel KW - ToF-SIMS KW - Modelling studies PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-54041 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Deland, Eric T1 - Environmental conditions impact the corrosion layer composition of Methanogen induced microbiologically influenced corrosion (Mi-MIC) N2 - Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) is a now well-known challenge and affects industry, society and infrastructure. For a long time, the impact of methanogen-induced MIC (Mi-MIC) was underestimated. This was mainly due to the rather low published corrosion rates and the presumed corrosion product siderite, which is not electrically conductive. In our laboratory, we were able to show that this trivialization or underestimation of Mi-MIC was due to the nature of the testing. The static systems used so far do not provide environmentally relevant information about the corrosion rate and the corrosion product, especially for methanogens To further illustrate the importance of the environment on the MIC process, we established a multiport flow column (MFC), to simulate the natural environment. With this method, and in contrast to published results using the static conditions, we obtained ten times higher corrosion rates. We analyzed the corrosion products with a combination of techniques, like ToF-SIMS, SEM-EDS and FIB-SEM, and found strong evidence that siderite is not the sole corrosion product of Mi-MIC. The corrosion layers contain phosphorus, oxygen, magnesium, calcium and iron and lacked on carbon-related species. It is hypothesized that methanogens may have influenced the nucleation process of siderite, converting bicarbonate into carbon dioxide for methanogenesis. This results in increased localized corrosion and reduced siderite formation. To verify and deepen our understanding of Mi-MIC, we are currently studying the influence of additional environmental parameters (e.g. pH, salinity, flow rate etc.) on Mi-MIC and the subsequent impacts on corrosion rates and the corrosion products. Overall, results of this study will expand the current understanding of MIC from both analytical and mechanistic points of view, thus aiding the development of different mitigation strategies for various industry sectors. T2 - Eurocorr 2021 CY - Online meeting DA - 20.09.2021 KW - Methanogen-induced microbiologically influenced corrosion KW - Carbon steel KW - SEM-EDS KW - Modelling studies PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-54043 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schmidt, Selina T1 - Effect of biocides on the evolution and spread of resistance N2 - Biocides used as material preservatives are in contact with various environments during direct application or passive leaching from protected materials [1]. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health problem and the environment is an important compartment for the evolution and transmission of AMR [2,3]. Soil is an environment with a large reservoir of natural microbial communities and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes. Those natural microbial communities are frequently exposed to biocides used as material preservatives. Previous studies have shown that antibiotics, metals and pesticides affect the underlying processes of resistance evolution and spread; namely de novo mutagenesis and horizontal gene transfer by conjugation and transformation in microbial communities. However, it is unknown if active substances used in material preservatives are involved in these processes. We show that biocides used as material preservatives affect rates of mutation and conjugation in microorganism in a species- and substance-dependent manner, while rates of transformation are not directly affected. Our data highlights the importance of assessing the contribution of material preservatives on AMR evolution and spread in the environment. T2 - RokoCon2022 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 29.09.2022 KW - Biocide KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Tolerance KW - Horizontal gene transfer KW - Mutation rate PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56431 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Koerdt, Andrea T1 - The impact and potential of halophilic microorganisms on alternative fuels N2 - As more industrial interests focusing on using salt caverns and repurposed gas or petroleum reservoirs for alternative fuel storage, i.e. CO2/H2, the question raises whether microorganisms may impact the infrastructure, gas purity and storage condition over time. Environments with high salinity (> 1.5 Meq of NaCl) are resided by halophiles (salt-loving microorganisms). To compensate for the intensive osmotic stress, they have resorted to two main adaptation strategies: 1) production of compatible solutes and 2) accumulation of intracellular KCl. Microbial community analysis of several high salinity environments revealed a number of recurring genera, including Halomonas and Halanaerobium. However, the impact of halophiles on the overall integrity and stability of the storage facilities remain largely unknown. To evaluate the suitability and stability of saline storage facilities, several model halophilic microorganisms, such as members of Halomonas, will be selected as testing subjects. First, the impact of halophiles on the infrastructure will be determined using an integrative approach by combining a number of techniques, including electrochemistry, TOF-SIMS, SEM/FIB/EDS and FIB-TEM. Second, the abilities of halophiles to alter the fuel composition (i.e. increase/decrease the fractions of H2) will be monitored using gas chromatography by growing them under high pressure. As a result of climate change and the accompanying mandatory shift to renewable energy resources, microorganisms will continue to play an important role in the energy sector, both to their benefit and detriment. Thus, it is important to achieve a certain level of understanding regarding the activities and mechanisms of halophiles prior to large-scaled excursions. T2 - ISMOS-8 CY - Online meeting DA - 07.06.2021 KW - Microbiologically influenced corrosion KW - Hydrogen KW - Gas storage KW - Contamination PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-52891 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Selection of resistance by antimicrobials used in coatings N2 - Antimicrobial surfaces have broad use in multiple settings including touch surfaces in hospitals, implanted devices, or consumer products. Their aim is to support existing hygiene procedures, and to help combat the increasing threat of antimicrobial resistance. However, concerns have been raised over the potential selection pressure exerted by such surfaces, which might drive the evolution and spread of antimicrobial resistance. In my presentation, I will highlight the risks and knowledge gaps associated with resistance on antimicrobial surfaces by different processes including evolution by de novo mutations and horizontal gene transfer, and species sorting of inherently resistant bacteria dispersed onto antimicrobial surfaces. The latter process has the potential to select for antibiotic resistance via cross-resistance between traits that confer resistance to both the antimicrobial surface coating and antibiotics. Conditions in which antibiotics and antimicrobial coatings are present simultaneously (e.g. implants) will lead to more complex interactions that can either result in the selection for or against antibiotic resistance. We mapped these interactions between several antimicrobials and antibiotics on growth and selection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We find prevalent physiological (i.e. synergy and antagonism) and evolutionary (i.e. cross-resistance and collateral sensitivity) combination effects. Understanding these interactions opens the door to tailor therapeutic interventions to select against resistance. In additions, we need new methods and translational studies that investigate resistance development to antimicrobial surfaces under realistic conditions. Therefore, I will present recent developments in our lab on the development of such a method based on existing efficacy standards. T2 - 2021 Fall Meeting of the European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) CY - Online meeting DA - 20.09.2021 KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Antimicrobial coating KW - Biofilms KW - Biocides PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-53645 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Deland, Eric A1 - Kleinbub, Sherin T1 - Is Methanogen-induced microbiologically influenced corrosion (Mi-MIC) underestimated? N2 - The role of methanogens in microbiologically influenced corrosion (Mi-MIC) is often neglected, due to 1) low reported corrosion rates and 2) the suspected corrosion product siderite, which is electrically non-conductive. Typically, MIC corrosion studies are carried out using batch cultures, which did not represent the dynamic conditions, i.e. pipeline and provide insufficient information on the overall corrosion potential. We established a unique approach, a multiport flow column (MFC), to simulate pipeline conditions and obtained 10-times higher corrosion rates than previously published. Our result showed that testing procedures have a large impact on the corrosive potential of methanogens. We found strong indications with a combination of ToF-SIMS, SEM-EDS and FIB-SEM analyses that siderite is not the sole corrosion product. The corrosion layers contain phosphorus, oxygen, magnesium, calcium and iron. To verify and deepen our understanding of Mi-MIC, we are currently studying the influence of other environmental parameters (e.g. pH) on Mi-MIC. T2 - VAAM 2021 CY - Online meeting DA - 18.03.2021 KW - Methanogen-induced microbiologically influenced corrosion KW - Carbon steel KW - MIC Island PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-54042 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - von Werder, Julia T1 - Biorezeptivität und Optimierung von Lehmbaustoffen - Forschung an der BAM N2 - Der Vortrag fasst die Forschungsaktivitäten der BAM in den Themengebieten Biorezeptivität von Beton und Optimierung von Lehmbaustoffen zusammen. Er diente als Kurzpräsentation für eine anschließende Podiumsdiskussion. T2 - Transformationsdialog "Material als Motor" CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 10.10.2024 KW - Biorezeptivität KW - Beton KW - Lehmbaustoffe PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62220 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - von Werder, Julia T1 - Living Concrete Walls: Engineering Bioreceptivity and Biofilms N2 - Building envelopes are a natural habitat of subaerial biofilms and can be more or less prone to be colonized (i.e. to be bioreceptive). Focusing on the added value of biofilms on manmade substrates represents new aesthetic frontiers and reduces the use of biocides. Moreover, the metabolic processes of photosynthetic biofilms can positively influence human health and life quality in densely populated cities by converting or absorbing pollutants. In the presented research the bioreceptivity of concrete claddings for building facades is engineered to sustain either natural or artificial establishment of microalgae-dominated biofilms. To be able to differentiate between the intrinsic material properties and the climatic boundary conditions, the experimental design in the first step comprised different analyses with model mono- and multi-species biofilms in sterile conditions and a high control of the environmental parameters. Growth and vitality of the algal component of the biofilms has been assessed with Pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM) fluorometry. T2 - 78th RILEM Annual Week & RILEM International Conference on Sustainable Materials & Structures: Meeting the major challenges of the 21st century - SMS 2024 CY - Toulouse, France DA - 25.08.2024 KW - Bioreceptivity KW - Biofilm KW - Weathering KW - Concrete KW - PAM fluorometry KW - Carbonation PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62224 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Lange, Diana A1 - Hahn, Oliver T1 - Colours on Maps - Purpose and Materiality N2 - Colours are an inseparable attribute of most maps. While colouring seems at first glance simply superficial ‘prettifying’ of maps, most maps were given colours for other reasons: colour is an important key to understanding the function and use of maps. The use of colours, the choice of where to assign them and the meaning given to them has accordingly never been static but has changed over time. In this context, the three aspects: colour system, colour scheme, and colour code are of particular importance. Material scientific analysis makes it possible to find out more about the material composition of colourants (pigments and dyes) on maps. The study of colourants provides insights into the production conditions and use of maps. Furthermore, it offers clues about colour changes and forms the basis for appropriate restoration concepts. T2 - Maps. Digital. Analogue CY - Oxford, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland DA - 26.02.2026 KW - Maps KW - Colours KW - Archaeometry KW - Aging PY - 2026 AN - OPUS4-65599 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Braun, U. T1 - Monitoring von Mikroplastik N2 - Der Vortrag gibt einen Überblick was bei der Analyse von Mikroplastik zu beachten ist und beschreibt die Vor- und Nachteile der TED-GC/MS. T2 - Abschlusstreffen MikroPlaTas CY - Online meeting DA - 23.06.2021 KW - Mikroplastik KW - TED-GC/MS KW - Mikroplastik-Analytik PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-52916 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Alasonati, E A1 - Bartczak, D A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Giovannozzi, A T1 - Towards Standardised Micro and Nanoplastics Analysis via Interlaboratory Comparisons: First Outlook of the VAMAS TWA 45 P3 Project N2 - This talk is part of the stakeholder workshop of the PlasticTrace project held in September 2025 in Oslo. The presentation shows first results of the VAMAS ILC on nanoplastics. PP nanoparticles were given to the participants. These were asked to measure the mass or particle number or size of the PP nanoplastics. Various techniques such as DLS, FFF, Py-GC/MS, TED-GC/MS, PTA were used. T2 - Stakeholder Workshop PlasticsTrace CY - Online meeting DA - 09.09.2025 KW - Nanoplastics KW - ILC KW - DLS KW - Polypropylene PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64714 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - Micro and Nano Plastics in the Environment N2 - The VAMAS/TWA 45 Project 2 “Development of standardized methodologies for characterisation of microplastics with microscopy and spectroscopy methods” involving 85 participants around the world is primarily discussed with respect to the results received and a first data evaluation. Status of the Project "Guidelines for defining reference materials for plastic degradation in marine environment" is reported and two new project proposals are presented: "Development of standardized methodologies for characterisation of nanoplastics (starting soon, BAM as leader?) and "Development of analytical protocols for the identification and quantification of microplastics of fibrous shape (still in negotiation)". T2 - Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards (VAMAS) 48th Steering Committee Meeting CY - New Delhi, India DA - 09.10.2023 KW - Microplastics KW - Nanoplastics KW - Interlaboratory comparison KW - VAMAS KW - Reference materials KW - ISO PY - 2023 UR - https://www.nplindia.org/index.php/amcsnzt_2023/ AN - OPUS4-58539 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Wessen Problem ist Mikroplastik eigentlich? N2 - In den letzten 20 Jahren ist die Aufmerksamkeit vieler Forschender sowie der Politik und der Bürger selbst auf ein wachsendes Kunststoffproblem unserer Zeit stark gestiegen. Mangelnde Wertstoffkonzepte, Sammelstellen und unbedachtes Einbringen von Kunststoffprodukten in die Umwelt führen dort zu einer Anreicherung. Durch äußere Witterungseinflüsse können diese Produkte degradieren und fraktionieren, so dass heute in allen Teilen der Welt Mikroplastik (1-1000 µm, ISO/TR 21960:2020) unterschiedlicher Polymermaterialien nachgewiesen werden kann. Bei Mikroplastik gilt das Vorsorgeprinzip. Die Partikel können weiter zerfallen in Nanoplastik (< 1 µm, ISO/TR 21960:2020). Ob eine toxikologische Gefährdung von Mikro- oder Nanoplastik ausgeht, wird vielfältig untersucht. Bisher stehen valide Ergebnisse aus. Untersuchungen zur Häufigkeit, dem Transport und möglicher Senken und Eintragspfade muss aber Rechenschafft getragen werden, so dass ein Monitoring von Mikroplastik bereits in der Revision der Trinkwasserrahmen-Richtlinie und der Abwasserrahmen-Richtlinie gefordert wird. Bedenklich ist auch die Verordnung über Mindestanforderungen an die Wasserwiederverwendung (2020/741), in welcher nicht verbindlich gesagt wird, Wasser welcher Reinigungsstufe eines Klärwerks auf die Felder zur Wiederverwendung aufgebracht werden darf. Einer Regulierung über die EU-Plastikstrategie hinaus mit z.B. Verboten für Einwegplastik-Produkte und Rezyklingquoten kann nur entgegengewirkt werden, wenn valide Messmethoden, Referenzmaterialien und Standards existieren, die das tatsächliche Ausmaß von Mikroplastik-Konzentrationen in Luft, Wasser, Boden und Biota zuverlässig und genau aufzeigen. T2 - Technomer CY - Chemnitz, Germany DA - 06.11.2025 KW - Mikroplastik KW - Referenzmaterial KW - TED-GC/MS PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64618 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Dailey, L. A. A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Ćirković Veličković, Tanja T1 - Exposition und Detektionstechniken: Der Weg zur Harmonisierung N2 - Der Vortrag gibt einen Überblick über Erkenntnisse der WG 1 und WG 3 des CUSP Clusters der Horizon Europe Projekte von Mikroplastik (2020-2025). Die Frage ist wie hoch ist die Exposition und ist das dann eine gesundheitliche Gefahr. Diskutiert werden Mechanismen, die helfen richtig und genau zu messen, z.B. Prozesskontrollen oder Referenzmaterialien. Es wird ein Weg zu mehr Harmonisierung im Bereich der Mikroplastik-Analytik aufgezeigt. T2 - Mikroplastik – Was wissen wir heute? BfR-Forum Verbraucherschutz CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 02.12.2025 KW - Microplastics KW - Reference materials KW - Harmonisation PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-65330 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Textile Fibers as Reference Materials for Microplastic Release N2 - Fibers of textile origin are named as high contributor for microplastic pollution in the environment next to e.g. plastics from packaging, tire wear and paints. Small fibers and fragments (microplastics: 1-1000 µm) can be released from textiles by mechanical abrasion during application (e.g. wearing) or washing. To date, the occurrence, transport pathways, and impacts of such small fibers on the environment and human health remain unclear. The European Commission revised the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/3019) and made monitoring of microplastics mandatory in the next years. Additionally, standards for microplastic detection are developed in the ISO standardization body ISO/TC 147/SC 2 with the documents ISO/DIS 16094-2 and ISO/DIS 16094-3. Detection mainly occurs by thermoanalytical methods for mass or vibrational methods with microscopes for numbers. Such standards and regulatory efforts need validated methods, which themselves need reference materials for validation. Reference materials are well characterized materials that are produced for a specific purpose and are homogeneous and stable within one property of interest. The shape and the composition of the reference particles/fibers will affect the detection, hence it is important to validate the instruments with fibers, if this is the task for monitoring campaigns. This work describes the production of realistic fibers as reference material for microplastic analysis. The individual samples contain of a small number (< 1000) and mass (< 20 µm) of fibres. Homogeneity and stability control occurred by thermogravimetric analysis and µ-Raman. Further characteristics were determined for type, shape and size distribution. T2 - TEXTEH CY - Bucharest, Romania DA - 23.10.2025 KW - Microplastics KW - Reference materials KW - Microfibers KW - Microfiber release PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64620 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Production of reference materials using a quality by design approach N2 - Accurate analysis of microplastics is based on validated methods and the use of standardized protocols. Therefore, reference materials are essential to determine recovery rates and optimise the existing workflows. The reference materials should mimic the reality in terms of particle properties and concentration and are intended for a special use. The Quality-by-Design approach helps to select the users need and defines a target product profile with mandatory and desired particle properties. We will address different reference material top-down production processes with their limits and challenges for production of materials varying in size ranges of micro- and nanoplastics. T2 - OECD Workshop on Nanoplastics CY - Paris, France DA - 12.11.2025 KW - Microplastics KW - Reference materials KW - Nanoplastics KW - Quality-by-Design PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64717 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Welche Rolle spielen Textilien als Mikroplastik-Quelle im Abwasser? N2 - In diesem Vortrag wird die Rolle der Waschmaschine als Eintragspfad von Mikroplastik in das Abwasser diskutiert und eine experimentelle Annäherung an das Problem beschrieben. T2 - Wasserwirtschaftliches Kolloquium der TU Berlin CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 14.12.2023 KW - Mikroplastik KW - TED-GC/MS KW - Waschmaschine PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-59278 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Systemverständnis und Untersuchungsstrategien von Kunststoffeinträgen in die Umwelt – Ergebnisse des RUSEKU-Forschungsprojektes N2 - Ziel des Vortrages ist die Vermittlung der Herausforderungen der Mikroplastik-Analytik sowie der Harmonisierung der Analytik und des Ergebnistransfers in die Normung. T2 - Jahresabschluss-Sitzung GA "Mensch und Umwelt" CY - Online meeting DA - 24.11.2021 KW - Mikroplastik KW - Mikroplastik-Analytik PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-53830 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Update from ISO/TC 61/SC14/WG4 N2 - This talk is an update from ISO/TC 61/SC14/WG4. It describes the production of microplastic test material for the use in an interlaboratory comparison. IWe report the first results of an ILC on microplastic detection methods organized under the pre-stantdardisation plattform of VAMAS (www.vamas.org/twa45/) as Project 2 “Development of standardized methodologies for characterisation of microplastics with microscopy and spectroscopy methods”, within the Technical Working Area TWA 45 “Micro and Nano Plastics in the Environment”. The ILC has gathered 84 participants all over the world representing all continents. Reference materials were developed by BAM to test the main methods for MPs detection as addressed in ISO/TR 21960:2020: thermo-analytical methods (Py-GC/MS and TED-GC/MS) and vibrational methods (µ-IR and µ-Raman). As far as the mass fraction is concerned, accurate results with quite a good precision were achieved with the thermo-analytical methods. Number-based results are not adressed here. T2 - ISO/TC 147/SC 2/JWG CY - Online meeting DA - 03.06.2025 KW - Microplastics KW - ILC KW - Reference materials PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63340 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Production of small micro- and nanoplastic reference materials supporting harmonization and standardization N2 - The MICROPLASTICdays at Ljubliana, Slowenia, were organized in cooperation with the PRIORITY cost action. The topic has been reference materials this time. The talk gives an idea of the preparation of reference materials in micro- and nanoplastic topic to support standardisation and regulation. It defines the term of micro-and nanoplastics and presents different case studies and critical attributes to the production depending on the enduser needs. T2 - MICROPLASTICdays CY - Ljubljana, Slovenia DA - 25.03.2025 KW - Microplastics KW - Nanoplastics KW - Reference materials PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-62801 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kittner, Maria T1 - Development of a new Lysimeter System to assess Microplastic, PAH & Heavy Metal Emissions from Artificial Turf Sports Pitches N2 - Since September 2023, the European Commission introduced a new regulation to reduce emissions of microplastics (MP) into the environment, including the sale and use of intentionally added MP. Therein, the use of synthetic rubber granules in artificial turf is explicitly mentioned and banned for future use. Additionally, abrasions of grass fibres and other turf components are also considered as MP sources. Artificial turf pitches are multi component systems: e. g. grass fibres made of polyethylene (PE), synthetic infill made of ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber (EPDM), carpet backing of polypropylene (PP) glued with polyurethane (PU), winding yarn of polyethylene terephthalate or elastic layer of Styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) bound with PU. While the ban has great impact on recreational sports, there is so far no sufficient data to estimate the MP emissions from artificial turf sports pitches into the environment and thus their relevance as a source of MP pollution. To close this gap, three artificial turf scenarios in different ageing states (unaged, artificially aged and aged in real time) were analysed in this study: the past (old turf: fossil based, synthetic infill), present (most commonly installed in Germany: fossil based, synthetic infill) and future (turf with recycled grass fibres, no synthetic infill). To simulate outdoor weathering during the service life of approx. 15 years, accelerated ageing by UV weathering and mechanical stress was carried out. The newly developed and in-house manufactured Microplastic Eluate Lysimeter (MEL) simulates contaminant transfer into the groundwater and allows the simultaneous sampling for MP and dissolved contaminants, like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) or heavy metals (HM). MP mass contents were analysed using smart microfilter crucibles (mesh size: 5 µm) and Thermal Extraction Desorption Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry and PAH and HM concentrations were determined using Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry or Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy, respectively. T2 - MICRO2024: Plastic Pollution from Micro to Nano CY - Arrecife, Spain DA - 23.09.2024 KW - Microplastics Eluate Lysimeter KW - Microplastics KW - Heavy Metals KW - PAH KW - TED-GC/MS PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61160 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Drago, C A1 - Wiesner, Yosri A1 - Braun, U A1 - Giovannozi, A A1 - Fadda, M A1 - Putzu, Mara A1 - Lorenzo, S A1 - Moscoso-Pérez, C A1 - Benismail, N A1 - Palma, C A1 - Almeida, J A1 - Mattarozzi, M A1 - Barbaresi, M A1 - Piergiovanni, M A1 - Masino, M A1 - Bianchi, F A1 - Careri, M A1 - v Bavel, B A1 - Maltseva, A A1 - Sillanpää, M A1 - Pröfrock, D A1 - Wippermann, D A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - Harmonisation of sample preparation for microplastic analysis: Recovery rates of tablets containing microplastics as reference material for food and environmental matrix N2 - Microplastic are found ubiquitarians in the environment and food products. Up to now, their impact of risks on health and environment is still controversially discussed, but based on the precautionary principle alone, their presence should be monitored and emission should be reduced (see here also the status of existing EU regulations ). The crucial point is not only the reduction of microplastics pollution but also the introduction of legally binding, standardized procedures for their analysis. The limited availability of certified reference material as well as absence of standard operating procedures to identify, characterize and quantify microplastics according to number and mass have generated lack of comparability between different analytical methods and laboratories; but also, the need of time-consuming development of own protocols for each laboratory. Further on, harmonisation and standardisation of microplastics analysis requires specific reference materials that are used to validate the measurement and to ensure the comparability of results. In the first step, we developed tablets of a water-soluble matrix, containing defined numbers of microplastic particles or mass contents. These can be solved in water and can be handled as reference materials in bottled drinking water without additional sample preparation. These samples can be measured, using mass-based methods as thermo-analytical methods like thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TED-GC/MS) or pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) and using umber-based methods as vibrational spectroscopy like Infrared and Raman directly after filtration. The aim of this work was to delevop standard operating procedure to measure microplastics in more complex matrices and to harmonise and compare different detection and characterization methods. In fact, these matrices require different additional treatments to allow a reliable quantification and identification of microplastics. T2 - SETAC Europe 2025 CY - Vienna, Austria DA - 11.05.2025 KW - Microplastics KW - Nanoplastics PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63366 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna T1 - PlasticTrace WP1 – Stakeholder Workshop N2 - The talk summarizes the achievments of WP1 of the PlasticTrace project. Microplastic reference materials were developed by producing tablets. Different preparation methods were compared. Characterisation of the tablets was done after filtration with µFTIR, QCL, µRaman, Py-GC/MS and TED-GC/MS after ISO standards ISO 16094-2 and ISO/FDIS 16094-3. Polymer types are polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate. T2 - Stakeholder Workshop PlasticsTrace CY - Online meeting DA - 09.09.2025 KW - Microplastics KW - Reference materials KW - TED-GC/MS KW - PET PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64258 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Meurer, Maren T1 - Accelerated solvent extraction to identify an accurate polyethylene mass value in microplastic analytics N2 - It is of high priority to capture the extent of microplastics (MP) contamination for understanding its impact and consequences to our environment. However, due to a lack of standardized methods, MP analysis as well as its quality assurance, is still a challenge. The thermal extraction desorption-gas chromatography/-mass spectrometry (TED-GC/MS) as a novel innovative thermoanalytic method can detect MP particles in environmental samples based on their decomposition products. According to MP analysis, a distinctively larger polyethylene (PE) content in comparison to other synthetic polymers was detected in environmental samples. Various substances within the matrix which have a similar molecular structure to PE, like fats and oils, might interfere with its marker and lead to an overestimation. In this investigation an automated extraction method, the accelerated solvent extraction (ASE), is introduced as quality control tool before TED-GC/MS measurement. Thereby, not the extract like usually used, but the solid filtrate is analyzed. The aim is to clean the environmental samples from solvent removable compounds which could lead to false positive signals and thus receive a more accurate PE mass. Consequently, a sample mimicking environmental samples with a defined matrix and a known polymer mass was generated. The common polymers polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and styrene-butadiene rubber, used as an indication for tire wear, were added to the matrix. Different parameters for ASE extraction were varied such as different solvents, filters and purge time. Finally, a PE recovery rate of 91 % after extraction could be reached. T2 - Micro 2022 CY - Online meeting DA - 14.11.2022 KW - PE KW - ASE KW - TED-GC/MS PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56347 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Miclea, P-T T1 - Evaluation of Toxicological Characteristics of Airborne Nano/Microplastic Particles From the Industrial Environment N2 - Micro and nano plastic (MNPs) particles and fibres represent a global scale contamination source with hazard potential. They can be identified all around our environment, even in air, soil and water. One of the major global MNPs polluters is the textile industry, which generates plastic particles (nylon, polyester, polyurethane, polyolefin, acrylic etc.) during the manufacturing processes. The study analyses the level of particle concentration outside a company that processes textile yarns, but also from the proximity of workplaces using an online air samplers with cascade and mono filter holders for silicon (Si) and quartz filters, respectively. A laser detector was used for real- time counting of particles of six size classes (PM0.3-PM10). Silicon (Si) filters with a diameter of 9 mm and pore sizes of 10 µm and 1 µm and quartz filters with a diameter of 25 mm and a pore size of 1.2 µm were used for particle sampling. A special holder was designed and made for selective sampling (PM10 and PM1.0) on Si filters. Quartz filters were pre-calcined (8000C) before collection. Sampling parameters: airflow (GilAir Plus pump) -2 l/m3, collection time -3 hours; starting time 7.00 am (T1)/2.00 pm (T2), intermittent natural ventilation, average temperature and humidity: 23.3 0C, RH: 52.5%. The weight of particles collected (µg) on the quart filters was 4.9E-05 (T1) and 5.1E-05 (T2) and on the Si filters 3,2 E-05(T1) and 5E-06(T2). The total number of the outside particles (PM0,3-PM10) was situated between 3584,58 (T1)-15165,05(T2) and inside 9901(T1) and 12921,61(T2). The highest number of PM 10 particles inside was 72/m3 and of PM0.3 particles 71979/m3. The samples were characterized using electron microscopy and µRaman spectroscopy. All samples showed a high concentration of particles on the filter. Samples show only particles with irregular shapes. The equivalent particle diameter was for PM10: 1-5 µm and PM1<1 µm. The total Ion Chromatogram shows the presence of PET-type polymer and the TED GS-MS analysis shows that the weight of the collected particles is PET. After extracting the particles from the quartz filters, they were tested for evaluation of the cytotoxic potential of preparations on human monocyte-macrophage cell cultures and peripheral lymphocytes. In the first case, the level of cytotoxicity was at the border between non-cytotoxic and cytotoxic and in the second test the result was moderate cytotoxic. T2 - SETAC Europe 2025 CY - Vienna, Austria DA - 11.05.2025 KW - Microplastics KW - TED-GC/MS KW - Nanoplastics KW - Raman microscopy PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63378 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -