Microbial biofilms--the coming of age of a research field.

Abstract

After successful meetings in Rome (2009) and Copenhagen (2011), the Biofilm Study Group of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) (ESGB) organized the third EuroBiofilms meeting in Ghent (Belgium), from September 9 to September 12, 2013. With close to 300 participants coming from 30 different countries and more than 200 submitted abstracts, the meeting was very successful. It is clear that the field of microbial biofilms has come a long way since the early studies on biofilms (in the 1920s and 1930s, see the historical overview written by Niels Hoiby in this issue; Hoiby, 2014). The field has benefited dramatically from advances in our understanding of the molecular biology of microorganisms as well as from technological advances within microscopy techniques and methods for culture-independent investigation of microbial communities. While simple in vitro model systems are still very valuable …