Biofilms in Human Medicine Interest Group

Biofilms, which are communities of microorganisms that are attached to a surface, play a critical role in numerous infectious diseases. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently estimated that biofilms are responsible for 65% to 80% of all infections. In 2008, the Cellular and Molecular Immunology B Study Section (CMIB) established a multi-disciplinary translational biofilms research group that consists of microbiologists, immunologists, biochemists, pathologists, computational biologists, infectious diseases experts, as well as pulmonary and otolaryngology specialists. The team meets monthly to discuss scientific and programmatic themes with the goal to submit an NIH program project grant.

The human diseases represented by the projects include cystic fibrosis, chronic gastrointestinal disease, chronic otisis media and sinustis, dental carries, infection of the genitourinary tract, periodonitis, and device related infection.

Those participating include scientists and clinicians from OSU (infectious disease, dentistry, oral biology, orthopedics, microbiology, DHLRI, and FAES) as well as Nationwide Children's Hospital and Battelle Memorial Institute.