Towards commercial application of a novel method to prevent and remove bacterial biofilms

Biofilms are made up of bacteria or fungi growing in large communities enclosed in a layer of slime. These microbial biofilms can be easily found in home, often growing on wet surfaces (such as bathroom tiles, taps and water pipes). Normally these biofilms pose little risk to people and can easily be removed by standard cleaning products. However, in both healthcare and industry microbes growing in biofilms can cause a multitude of serious problems. In industrial environments / industry the build up of slimes on surfaces leads to many different problems associated with the clogging of pipes and machinery. In the home microbial slimes lead to problems such as the staining of shower curtains and the build up of slime in the pipes and trays of dishwashers and washing machines. Much more serious problems can occur in healthcare environments. The slime layer of a biofilm encapsulates the microbe which made it. This provides a protective barrier between the microbe and its environment. In the case of a bacterial infection in a person (such as an Staphylococcus aureus wound infection, commonly found in recovering hospital patients) the biofilms are very difficult to remove and they make the infectious bacteria highly resistant to antibiotics. It is therefore extremely difficult to cure a bacterial biofilm infection often resulting in patient fatalities. In fact bacterial and fungal biofilms play a highly significant role in large number of medical conditions, from serious infectious diseases to conditions such as Cystic Fibrosis. Biofilms are also involved in infections related to medical implants and even in every day health issues such as tooth decay and plaque build up. We are developing a new approach to fight these problems. The microbes which make biofilms can also disperse them, allowing the microbes to move to new places. Some microbes deliberately break up the biofilms formed by competitor microbes, in order to steal food or other resources. We are using techniques based on those found in nature to break up biofilms. We have isolated a species of bacteria which can break down a key part of the biofilm matrix. This results in a break down of the whole biofilm and causes the target bacteria to disperse from their biofilm protected state. We can also use the same approach to stop the build up of new biofilm material. Thus we are developing natural and safe methods to control biofilms, in medical, household and industrial settings.