Thank you to National Biofilm Innovation Centre (NBIC) for another really impressive showcase event on 12 September 2023. We were lucky enough to be there in 2017 at the NBIC launch event and we have been continually impressed and supportive of their endeavours to raise awareness of biofilms and to support biofilm research gaps. All 18 presentations demonstrated sound biofilm research, and also presented the ‘big picture’ implications of their research and their commercialisation plans, designed to ensure that this research reaches the end user. The end users of the presented research included, but were not limited to, patients at risk of urinary tract infection, reduction of nosocomial infections and the use of nanoparticles to reduce biofilm formation.
Research aimed at supporting the development of better biofilm reduction techniques included Magnitude’s presentation on Caenorhabditis elegans as an infection model to reduce traditional in vivo testing, Esther Karuanakaran from the University of Sheffield spoke about a novel high throughout ex vivo ovine skin wound model for testing emerging Antibiotic formulations and Dr Freya Harrison and our own Dr Stefania Fabbri presented Freya’s ex vivo respiratory biofilm model, developed to screen the effectiveness of products intended to treat and reduce respiratory infections including those linked to cystic fibrosis. The benefits of validating this model in line with ISO 17025 were also discussed in line with the generation of sound data that is suitable for regulatory body approval.
NBIC have some exciting Phase 2 plans and we look forward to seeing their outputs in relation to biobanking, biofilm preservation and the biofilm microbiome. Ten years ago when NBIC was founded, the term biofilm was rarely understood and the knowledge that biofilm infections were a key contributor to the vast majority of chronic infections was also poorly recognised. In the same time frame as NBIC have been supporting fundamental biofilm research, Perfectus Biomed, now part of NAMSA has grown it’s offering of standard and customised contract research methods, that consider the role of biofilm throughout the product development pathway.
We are excited for the next 10 years of biofilm research and hope to report that the incidence of chronic lung infections, chronic urinary tract infections, chronic wound infections, and many others has fallen significantly as we learn to better prevent and resolve chronic biofilm infections.
To find out more, contact us today at info@perfectusbiomed.com