CBE News Update February, 2004 Volume 7, Issue 2   Useful internet sites Center for Biofilm Engineering www.erc.montana.edu     SIMS News published by the Society for Industrial Microbiology November/December 2003, Vol. 53, No. 6 Submitted by Todd Sandrin, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, WI   _____________________________________________________________________________        The Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE) website provides a wealth of information on the nature, relevance, and state of research on biofilms. The CBE represents a multidisciplinary initiative to gain basic knowledge on biofilms to resolve industrial, medical, and environmental problems. The CBE was initially established in 1990 as a National Science Foundation Center. Even a cursory perusal of this website quickly reveals that CBE researchers have made extraordinary progress in elucidating important, once enigmatic facets of biofilms. The website provides quick, easy, and complete access to the results of this research and should be of interest to those in industry and academia alike.      The website contains three readily navigable sections: CBE Essentials, Resource Library, and Industry Connection. Each contains links to a host of publications, visuals and other resources. The "Essentials" section is particularly noteworthy. It contains a wonderfully illustrative and convincing primer on the fundamentals of biofilms entitled "Biofilm Basics" that clearly articulates the need for a paradigm shift from viewing bacteria as primarily planktonic to viewing them as existing primarily in communities. An equally engaging and educational resource is the virtual tour of microbial biofilms, found on the website’s homepage, that seamlessly integrates fundamental biofilm concepts with current research endeavors at CBE. The Resource Library contains a plethora of visual resources and publications. The images, most of which are PowerPoint-style diagrams, are well-organized. Several movies of biofilms are also available. Finding relevant mocies is simple and quick, thanks to an integrated, intuitive search engine. Links to the myriad of publications the Center has produced are equally well-organized and cane be searched using an integrated search engine, similar to the search engine used for the movie database. Some of the more impressive multimedia features require broadband internet connections. While the Essentials and Resource Library sections may appeal primarily to members of the academic and basic research communities, the aptly titled Industry Connection section if targeted towards members of industry who have interests in collaborative research on biofilms.      The website is regularly updated and well-maintained. There are very few areas in need of improvement. Only a few links were broken during this author’s recent visits. One can only hope that the Center continues to maintain this level of dedication to disseminating the results through this incredibly useful website.