Speaker: Professor Jeremy Webb, University of Southampton, will present a seminar entitled : New anti-biofilm therapeutics from understanding biofilm life cycle dynamics (plus an overview of the newly awarded National Biofilms Innovation Centre)

Host:     Lisa Clark

Abstract:
Understanding the mechanisms of biofilm development and dispersal is providing new ways to manage biofilms and overcome their antimicrobial tolerance. Strategies include:

(i) the manipulation of the second-messenger c-di-GMP as a mechanism to regulate the transition from biofilm to antibiotic-sensitive planktonic bacterial cells;

(ii) disruption of the biofilm architecture from an understanding of the biochemistry and formation of the extracellular matrix, and

(iii) targeting biofilm-specific metabolism for the development of  novel therapeutic  strategies.

While most of these areas are commonly studied in the context of single species biofilms, an additional major outstanding challenge is to move these discoveries beyond single-species communities into controls for multispecies communities characteristic of real-world settings or infections.

In this presentation, I will review our research in biofilm control, including our clinical translation of new antibiofilm therapeutics.

As part of this presentation I will also provide an overview of the recently awarded National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC), a £26m commitment from BBSRC, Innovate UK, plus Industry and academic partners, and discuss the funding and collaborative opportunities that NBIC provides.

Biography:
Jeremy Webb is Professor of Microbiology at University of Southampton and Co-Director for the recently awarded National Biofilms Innovation Centre. His work focuses on the adaptive biology, antimicrobial resistance, evolution, and molecular genetics of biofilms and polymicrobial communities.  His work includes the discovery of nitric oxide as a regulator of biofilm dispersal, which is now being exploited for therapeutic applications in cystic fibrosis, including the first human clinical trial for a biofilm-targeted therapeutic. Current research also seeks to identify genes that undergo adaptive evolution during bacterial biofilm development.

All staff from organisations on the Research Park are welcome to attend.