Workshop on Biofilms Research: Friend or Foe held in Berlin - Germany

Every year, biofilms cost Europe billions of euros in medical infections, equipment damage, energy losses and product contamination. Biofilm is the preferred mode of existence of microbes in a range of habitats allowing bacteria to survive in hostile environments and to colonise new niches through various dispersal mechanisms. Being in a community has a lot of advantages in comparison to a planktonic life.

However, biofilms also have favourable properties. For instance, they decompose and recycle organic material and help keep nutrients circulating in the marine food chain. Well-controlled biofilms have potential application on biofilteration of industrial waste water, bioremediation, formation of natural biological barriers for soil and groundwater protection from contamination and others.

The EU looks with interest at Biofilms

The EU has already started strategic initiatives focusing on Biofilms, such as the topic HEALTH.2011.2.3.1-5: Development of tools to control microbial biofilms with relevance to clinical drug resistance .

Moreover, the European Technology Platform on Plants for the Future has included the development of biofilms – to protect plants against disease as a way to achieve the goal of reducing and optimising the environmental impact of agriculture – in its Strategic Research Agenda 2025.

These initiatives demonstrate the EU’s efforts to promote activities to address the issues caused by biofilms or where biofilms could have a role in improving undesirable conditions.

Structuring the Biofilms community into a COST Action

As biofilms is a very diverse subject – ranging from medical implant development to bioremediation – there is an urgent need to integrate isolated efforts and create a coordinated interdisciplinary network able to address the current challenges in a more effective way. This will be achieved by exchanging knowledge, concepts and work and by enhancing creativity. Such need for stronger cooperation is acknowledged by the recent establishment of well-known biofilms research centres in Europe, and by the number of conferences organised on biofilms. Nevertheless, there are still no fora to bring the relevant scientists together in a more systematic and effective way.

The aim of the Workshop is to strengthen cooperation mainly at European, but also global, level on biofilms research, by increasing the interaction between different disciplines and between industrial partners. This will enable the interested communities to develop a more formalised network able to tackle current and future challenges on Biofilms in an increasingly globalised world. In order to highlight the needs of this sector and attempt to provide answers to a number of key scientific questions, COST will organise a multidisciplinary two-day Exploratory Workshop on ‘Biofilms: friend or foe?’ in June 2010. The objective of this initiative is to identify the needs and potential for a structured COST Action on this topic. The output of the Exploratory Workshop will also provide a valuable series of indicators that stakeholders and policy makers can use in planning ahead for the post-FP7 era.http://www.cost.esf.org/events/Biofilms