Biofilms at Interfaces

Dear Colleagues,

Bacteria are everywhere. They can attach and form biofilms at interfaces (solid–liquid, liquid–liquid, liquid–air) that can impact different industries, e.g., healthcare, food packaging, pharmaceuticals, and oil recovery. Biofilms are accumulations of microbial cells which are embedded in a matrix of extracellular polysaccharides. Biofilms are mostly deleterious, i.e., biofilm formation takes place in food processing equipment, heat exchanger plate surfaces, water pipelines, and medical devices. They can also be beneficial in applications such as bioremediation and wastewater treatment.

For example, in the healthcare sector, biofilm infections of medical devices or biomaterial implants constitute a major cause of failure. Antibiotics are relatively ineffective against biomaterial-associated infections as the biofilm mode of growth on the biomaterial surface (solid–liquid interface) protects microorganisms against both immune cells and penetration and subsequent killing by antibiotics.

Meanwhile, in bioremediation, biofilms are formed at the oil–water interfaces (liquid–liquid), for example, in the scenario of an oil spill in the sea. Bacteria forming biofilms at oil–water interfaces have diverse metabolisms which allow them to utilize hydrocarbons, e.g., oil, as carbon and energy sources.

Therefore, understanding how bacteria adhere to and form biofilms at interfaces is of great importance and could have a tremendous societal and economic impact.

This Special Issue aims to collect papers focused on biofilm formation at interfaces (solid–liquid, liquid–liquid, liquid–air), with special interest in the following:

• Understanding of the physicochemical properties of bacterial biofilms at interfaces;
• Development of novel strategies to prevent or eradicate detrimental biofilms;
• Strategies that promote formation of beneficial biofilms.

Dr. Guruprakash Subbiahdoss
Guest Editor

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