Biofilm Management: Workshop Report. February 2020 - Nottingham, UK

Abstract

We hosted our third academic/industry workshop on Biofilm Management in Nottingham on 25 February 2020. We thank all those who attended and contributed to the workshop.

Executive Summary
This workshop was aimed at exploring unmet industrial needs and resulting research questions in the field of Biofilm Management.

NBIC partner organisations shared their unmet needs and the 65 attendees (34 from industry) worked in syndicates to discuss the key challenges and ways to overcome them. The main needs which emerged were:

Improved models and methods for characterisation, visualisation and detection of biofilms: these should be relevant (real world context), standardised and accessible to industry and academia.

Improved cross-disciplinary collaboration (industry to academia but also with regulators and between sectors of industry): through workshops, partner searches and in the development and execution of project proposals and models.

Clarification of pathways from industry regulators for solutions, and an enhanced understanding of time frames and associated costs. Support is required in easing the ability to navigate the pathways and influence the standards development. NBIC has a leading role to play here.

Understanding biofilm behaviour and control: there remains a need for further effort in terms of fundamental research on understanding biofilm behaviour and control to give us new leads and insights.

Data centralisation and management: Large amounts of data are produced using contemporary techniques and the collation, arrangement and interpretation of this and existing data sets via bioinformatics is a compelling need.

A range of strategies for addressing these needs were proposed and it was highlighted that NBIC needs to aim to widen its engagement and influence, to develop a broader shared concrete understanding of the problems and the optimum route to solutions. For example, this could include specific lobbying/outreach in areas such as identifying funding that could be released for fundamental research, creating an appropriate regulatory framework and greater public awareness of needs and opportunities.

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