b'PRIORITY QUESTIONS FOR MICROBIAL BIOFILMS EXERCISEPriority Questionswhich they agreed that the core international partners, NBIC, CBE, SCELSE, AMiCI and ESGB would work together with the community to coordinate a priority FOR MICROBIAL BIOFILMSquestions exercise.EXERCISEGOALSThe Priority Questions for Microbial Biofilms is a jointTo stimulate discussion amongst the biofilm exercise from NBIC, the Center for Biofilm Engineeringcommunity and identify areas of research and (CBE), Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciencesinnovation that would have a substantial scientific Engineering (SCELSE), COST AMiCI Consortium and theand societal impact. ESCMID Study Group for Biofilms (ESGB). We calledTo encourage researchers to think beyond the on the international biofilms community to help uslimits of their own sphere of research or discipline identify priority questions that, if answered, will make aand consider the most important basic or applied considerable impact onthe fundamentals of the fieldresearch that could possibly be carried out. of microbial biofilms, to innovation in approaches to prevent, detect, manage and engineer biofilms, or whichTo illustrate the most impactful and beneficial would be expected to have an impact in influencingresearch in the field and its overall importance to policy makers and funders. funding agencies, policy makers, regulators and the wider public. To date, there has not been an international and community-wide synthesis of key questions and priorityOur definition of microbial biofilms is as inclusive research or innovation areas for the biofilm field.Suchas possible and includes communities of bacteria exercises can play a critical role in bridging the gapthat may be surface or interface-associated or between the data generated by researchers, and thesuspended as aggregates, comprising single-species information needed by policymakers to make fundingor polymicrobial consortia, and relevant to any or regulatory decisions. We called for questions thatfundamental or applied context in which biofilms are are unanswered, could be answered (including throughstudied.high-risk and blue-skies research), and that could beTHE PROCESStackled by a research programme. Participants were asked to submit their questions BACKGROUND anonymously in April 2021 and were also given the In May 2019, 29 scientists with expertise in variousoption to leave their contact details if interested in subdisciplines of biofilm research met in the USA at anparticipating further with the activity. We received 309 event designated as the 2019 Biofilm Bash. The goalquestions in total, from across every continent. of the meeting was first to identify knowledge gaps,The team have completed the process of pre-screening and then to come up with ways of how the biofilmsubmissions for duplication, and those who showed community can fill these gaps. Among the outcomesinterest in supporting the initiative are currently of this meeting, it was identified that increasedorganising subsets of related questions to finalise our interdisciplinary and international networking would beset of priority questions. These will form the basis for beneficial and that the larger centres can and shoulda position paper, which will be published as a resource play a role in catalysing these interactions, which wouldfor the field. This is expected to help set the agenda for bring additional value (e.g. in leveraging internationalfuture research in the field of microbial biofilms as well funding initiatives). A joint meeting of biofilm centresas have impact in areas of policy and outreach.was held in Arlington, USA in February 2020, during 18'