Biological control offers an environmentally friendly alternative to the use of pesticides for controlling plant diseases. Unfortunately, growers continue to use chemical control over biological agents, and lack of knowledge often contributes to the downfall of a biocontrol agent. Knowledge of the biological environment in which the agent will be used and of how to produce a stable formulation are both critical to successful biocontrol. Certain Gram-positive bacteria have a natural formulation advantage over their Gram-negative counterparts: the spore. Although the Gram-positive bacteria have not been as well represented in the biocontrol literature, their spore-forming abilities and historical industrial uses bode well for biocontrol success. Here we describe several systems utilizing Gram-positive biocontrol agents that have been researched in depth and provide models for the future of biocontrol.

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The safe handling of microorganisms in the teaching laboratory is a top priority. However, in the absence of a standard set of biosafety guidelines tailored to the teaching laboratory, individual educators and institutions have been left to develop their own plans. This has resulted in a lack of consistency, and differing levels of biosafety practices across institutions. Influenced by the lack of clear guidelines and a recent outbreak of Salmonella infections that was traced back to teaching laboratory exposures, the Education Board of the American Society for Microbiology charged a task force to develop a uniform set of biosafety guidelines for working with microorganisms in the teaching laboratory. These guidelines represent best practices for safely handling microbes, based on the safety requirements found in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL). Guidelines for safely handling microbes at both biosafety level 1 (BSL1) and biosafety level 2 (BSL2) were developed. The guidelines are brief by design for ease of use and are accompanied by an extensive appendix containing explanatory notes, sample documents, and additional resources. These guidelines provide educators with a clear and consistent way to safely work with microorganisms in the teaching laboratory.

The original Guidelines for Biosafety in Teaching Laboratories were developed in 2012 in response to an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that originated from clinical and teaching microbiology laboratories. In the 7 years since the publication of the guidelines, there have been two subsequent CDC-reported Salmonella outbreaks originating from clinical and teaching microbiology laboratories. Use of and issues with the guidelines by ASM members have been tracked by various means since publication, and in 2018 it became apparent that an update of the guidelines was necessary. The Education Board of the American Society for Microbiology charged this task force with updating the guidelines based on the accumulated information. While the guidelines should look familiar, users will find that the originally separate BSL1 and BSL2 guidelines have been rolled into one document, to help eliminate redundancy and confusion. In addition, sections on risk assessment and service animals in the teaching laboratory have been added. These updated guidelines should help clarify many of the issues for which users expressed problems with the original guidelines.