The Center for Biofilm Engineering

A Friendly Guide to Biofilm Basics & the CBE

1. What is biofilm?

You may not be familiar with the term "biofilm," but you have certainly encountered biofilm on a regular basis. The plaque that forms on your teeth and causes tooth decay is a type of bacterial biofilm. The "gunk" that clogs your drains is also biofilm. If you have ever walked in a stream or river, you may have slipped on the biofilm-coated rocks.

Biofilm forms when bacteria adhere to surfaces in aqueous environments and begin to excrete a slimy, glue-like substance that can anchor them to all kinds of material – such as metals, plastics, soil particles, medical implant materials, and tissue. A biofilm can be formed by a single bacterial species, but more often biofilms consist of many species of bacteria, as well as fungi, algae, protozoa, debris and corrosion products. Essentially, biofilm may form on any surface exposed to bacteria and some amount of water. Once anchored to a surface, biofilm microorganisms carry out a variety of detrimental or beneficial reactions (by human standards), depending on the surrounding environmental conditions.

What is the industrial significance of biofilm?

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