Biofilms: What are they and why do we care

Recording of the live webinar broadcast on 21st October 2021:
Moderator: Laura Piddock, Scientific Director (GARDP)
In this live webinar, the speakers gave the following presentations:
Presentation 1: Biofilm adaptation - the good the bad and the ugly (Mark Webber)
- An introduction to biofilms and their importance in health and disease
- Discussion of why biofilms are inherently antimicrobial-resistant
- Explanation of how biofilms adapt to antimicrobial stress and the impacts of this on the bacterial cell
Presentation 2: Building & using models of lung and wound biofilms (Freya Harrison)
- Why we need tailored models of cystic fibrosis lung and diabetic foot infection
- Biofilm and antibiotic-tolerant phenotype of P. aeruginosa in CF lung model
- The value of using a synthetic wound model for discovering natural products with antibiofilm potential
The presentation were followed by a Q&A session.
Speakers:
Mark Webber, Group Leader, Quadram Institute (UK)
Freya Harrison, Principal Investigator, University of Warwick (UK)
REVIVE: revive.gardp.org/
GARDP: www.gardp.org/

[@alexojideagu]

Something amazing happened in my kitchen. I created a glass trap for fruit flies to drown using fermented liquid. I also put in some grapes to ferment and help attract fruit flies. It worked great for 1 month, until amazingly a thick slimy Biofilm formed floating on the surface, partially thanks to the grapes decomposing. Amazingly, not only did this now prevent the flies drowning anymore, but helped them started BREEDING maggots on top of the Biofilm! Bacteria and insects worked together to defeat my trap and start breeding together in symbiosis. Amazing.

[@calcaneus2000]

Aren't we trying to solve the problem at the wrong end of the equation? A diabetic wound or lung infection is the business end of a long road of problems that have not been stopped for many years in a patient's life. Is this monetarily feasible in the real world to continue to allow people to drain healthcare finances with psychosocial problems that they elect to ignore for a long period of time?

[@MadameCorgi]

Lol, no