World-leading microbiologists at the University of Nottingham will be pioneering new ways to kill, control or exploit microbial biofilms that cause infection, antibiotic resistance and industrial damage as part of a new National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC).

NBIC is a multi-site Innovation and Knowledge Centre led by teams at the Universities of Southampton, Nottingham, Edinburgh and Liverpool. A further 11 universities, three research centres (Diamond Synchrotron, the Hartree Centre and the Quadram Institute) and three major global academic partners (The Nanyang Technologial University (Singapore), the Montana State University (USA) and the University of Copenhagen (Denmark)) are also members of the NBIC.

The new centre — officially launched on Tuesday 28 November — pulls together the UK’s highest expertise in biofilm research and is supported by a commitment of £26 million over the next five years. This includes £12.5 million from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Centre (BBSRC) and Innovate UK.

With additional support from universities and industry, NBIC will bring together the best of UK biofilm research with UK companies from across the industrial sectors to accelerate the adoption of new technologies into live products and services.

You can read this story in more detail on the University’s news page.