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 path seems clear. We have come to understand many things about the unique biology of bacterial biofilms. Biofilms represent microbial societies with their own defense and communication systems. We have an arsenal of microscopic, physical chemical, and molecular techniques available to examine biofilms. There are many basic questions regarding the biology of biofilms that can now be answered...

Microbial biofilms contribute to virulence and resistance to antibiotics by shielding microbial cells from host defenses and antimicrobial drugs, respectively. Cryptococcus neoformans was demonstrated to form biofilms in polystyrene microtiter plates. The numbers of CFU of disaggregated biofilms, 2,3-bis(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-5-[(phenylamino)carbonyl]-2H-tetrazolium hydroxide reducti...

Studies focusing on biofilm assembly in deep-sea environments are rarely conducted. To examine the effects of substrate type on microbial community assembly, biofilms were developed on different substrates for different durations at two locations in the Red Sea: in a brine pool and in nearby bottom water (NBW) adjacent to the Thuwal cold seep II. The composition of the microbial communities in ...

Gingivitis is one of the most common oral infections in humans. While sugar alcohols such as erythritol are suggested to have caries-preventive properties, it may also have beneficial effects in prevention of gingivitis by preventing maturation of oral biofilms. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of erythritol on the microbial ecology and the gingivitis phenotype of oral microcosms....

Oral biofilms play a major role in the etiology of oral diseases, and have broad implications for quality of life, systemic health and economic costs. Hypotheses regarding the mechanisms by which oral biofilms exert their pathogenic potential have evolved over time. Early theories in which oral diseases were associated solely with the quantity of colonizing biofilms have been replaced by the un...