Congratulations to MOBIUS Research Officer Jayson Rose who has been awarded the Runner Up Prize for both the ‘Judge’s overall decision’ and ‘People’s choice award’ at the 3MT heat at the School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment, La Trobe University.

His talk was titled “Foam fighters: using the microbial dark matter to fight foam”.

Jayson’s project looked at how to tackle wastewater foam in sewage treatment plants, a problem which costs the wastewater industry and society millions of dollars every year.

The foam is stabilised by large, filamentous bacteria—but Jayson has found a way to use tiny, parasitic bacteria to target and kill the foam-stabilising bacteria.

Until Jayson’s breakthrough project, the parasites were referred to as the microbial dark matter because they could not be cultured. His work to identify how they exist (as parasites) could lead to new ways to combat foaming events, reducing costs for the wastewater industry.

Well done to Jayson!