Montana State’s Center for Biofilm Engineering to host annual conference July 10-12

BOZEMAN - The Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University will host its 34th annual Montana Biofilm Science and Technology Meeting July 10-12. The yearly meeting, expected to draw more than 160 attendees, will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bozeman.

Biofilms are communities of microbes that work together to produce a protective coating of slime. Examples include plaque on one's teeth and the "gunk" that clogs drains, according to the center's director, Matthew Fields. Some biofilms can corrode metals, while others can prevent wounds from healing or form on implanted medical devices such as artificial joints, leading to infections, he said.

The three-day gathering will focus on this year's theme of "Biofilm as a System" and will showcase fundamental and applied research on the advances in the study of biofilm happening at the CBE and other labs. The event will also feature an open house and a poster session Wednesday, July 10, highlighting the research of faculty, staff and students on campus.

"The annual meeting enables CBE biofilm researchers and industry to come together as a community to explore and discuss the big biofilm challenges facing society today," said Darla Goeres, research professor and coordinator of the center's membership-based affiliation with companies and other entities.

"In addition, the meeting provides an excellent educational opportunity for our students," she said. "Through multiple networking events, they learn what it means to be an R&D scientist in a large company and how their research is providing innovative solutions."

Topics of sessions at the conference include medicine and health care, innovative techniques for biofilm analysis, and biofilms and water quality. In addition to presentations by top researchers from the CBE and other institutions, the meeting will feature presentations by four doctoral students from the CBE. Organizers will also host an invitation-only workshop on Tuesday, July 9. The workshop will highlight the equipment, methods and techniques available at MSU's biofilm center to help dues-paying companies - called industrial associates - that work with the CBE to address specific biofilm-related problems or to test the efficacy of anti-biofilm products.

The CBE is part of MSU's Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering. Founded in 1990, the CBE is the world's first and largest research center dedicated to the study of biofilm, according to its website.