b'PREVENT require minimal maintenance also offers considerable The Prevent theme focuses on the prevention of earlyopportunities for innovation. Addressing these stage microbial adhesion and colonisation events atchallenges will bring exciting new technologies for surfaces and interfaces, and curtailing the developmentsafer medical devices, better healthcare, and early and maturation of early stage biofilms. Both aspectsintervention and control strategies across a range provide a powerful strategy to stop the problem atof biofilm challenges from water contamination and the onset. Specifically, NBIC provides a unique forummicrobial induced corrosion to antibiotic resistant for accelerating academic-industry partnerships thatinfections.allows prevent-based research approaches to beLead Organisation: University of Southamptontranslated into innovation across multiple industrial and healthcare sectors. Prevent is a broad theme andMANAGENBICs activities are concentrated in a number of keyThe mission of the Manage theme is to understand areas. A major focus is the design of surfaces, coatingsthe mechanisms governing biofilm life cycle dynamics and materials to prevent microbial adhesion, microbialand development, their physicochemical properties, transfer and/or biofilm formation. Intrinsically anti- and levels of complexity, in order to enhance the adhesion surfaces that rely on designed chemistries,ability to kill, remove or control established biofilms rheology or topographies are being created for medicalacross a range of environments. Through development devices, marine anti-fouling, paints and personalof bespoke biofilm model systems, the integration care applications. Allied to this effort is the use ofof multiple omics, state of the art imaging, rheology novel actives, repurposed drugs, etc. to create novelanalysis of biofilms of increasing complexity with antimicrobial coatings. A second focus is the use ofmodelling and in situ validation we will gain a unique physical, chemical or electrochemical perturbations withunderstanding of the mechanisms governing the applications involving light-based, plasma, ultrasoundinteraction between biofilms and their environment. and ozone delivery systems to prevent biofilm survival.This knowledge will guide the design of novel strategies Such applications are being developed for healthcare,including the use chemical, biological and physical food and agriculture, and construction applications.interventions coupled with robust delivery systems The Prevent theme also exploits bio-inspired andwhich can effectively interfere with the development biomolecule based approaches e.g. hijacking quorumand viability of complex biofilms in their natural sensing or nutrient uptake mechanisms. Integral to thisenvironment.theme is the use and development of advanced physicalLead Organisation: University of Nottinghamand biological characterisation techniques to lay down the foundations of knowledge-based design. ForENGINEERexample, the Prevent theme exploits a range of surfaceThe vision of the Engineering theme is the control of and materials characterisation techniques combinedbiofilms in industrial environments and large-scale with biological imaging and bioassays to createinfrastructure, and the engineering of bespoke biofilms knowledge-based correlations that can be iterated tofor targeted applications, potentially with the additional high performance interfaces. benefit of synthetic biology tools and approaches. The Lead Organisation: University of Liverpool ability to engineer bespoke microbial communities is in its relative infancy and requires a top-down and bottom-DETECT up understanding. By working with industries across NBICs Detect theme focuses on the requirement forsectors, we are building a top-down understanding accurate, quantitative biofilm detection and metrologyof existing microbial platforms, and acquiring data to across multiple scales through innovative sensing,expand our understanding of community composition, tracking and diagnostic technologies. Key to thisfunction and ecology. By performing fundamental ambition is the identification and use of new biofilm- interdisciplinary laboratory research we are also specific biomarkers including those relevant to biofilm- developing a bottom-up understanding of how associated antimicrobial resistance (AMR). There iscommunities are formed, and the factors that underpin an urgent need to develop the capability for non- their function and stability. The ability to craft, control destructive real-time detection and NBIC is developingand eliminate biofilms on demand has been identified new biofilm detection capabilities that will exploitthrough the Engineering workshop, the Manage the discovery of biomarkers and that will engineerworkshop, and the Metals and Microbes workshops as a more sensitive detection systems. The developmenthigh priority challenge area for our industry partners.of low-cost, easy-to-manufacture, portable/wearable/Lead Organisation: The University of Edinburghimplantable devices that have a long-life span and25'