The Biofilm Alliance was pleased to contribute to and support the recent Biofilm Bridges: Connecting Innovation, Research & Regulation event, held on 8 October 2026. The event brought together researchers, innovators, regulators and industry representatives to explore the challenges and opportunities in biofilm innovation across the One Health landscape.

Organised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA-NIBSC) in collaboration with the National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC), and hosted by the Microbiology Society, the event provided an opportunity for stakeholders from across human, animal, food and environmental sectors to share experiences and discuss the future of biofilm research and innovation. Biofilm Alliance team members James, Geertje, Gillian and Paulina attended and supported the event.

The programme included presentations from experts and innovators, followed by discussions and collaborative workshops exploring three key areas:

Challenges in translation and commercialisation

Physical reference materials to support standards

Written guidelines and standards for the biofilm community

The discussions reinforced a key message at the heart of the Biofilm Alliance's mission: scientific innovation alone is not enough. Robust, reproducible measurement methods, appropriate reference materials and agreed standards are essential to translating biofilm research into technologies and solutions that can be trusted, regulated and adopted by industry.

The event also highlighted the importance of bringing stakeholders together early to identify evidence gaps, align expectations and ensure that future standards reflect both scientific advances and real-world needs.

The Biofilm Alliance values opportunities such as Biofilm Bridges to collaborate with researchers, industry representatives and regulatory experts, and to contribute to strengthening the standards and regulatory frameworks needed to accelerate biofilm innovation.

We would like to thank MHRA-NIBSC, NBIC, the Microbiology Society and everyone who contributed to the event. We look forward to building on these valuable discussions and supporting continued collaboration across the biofilm community.

Further information about the event can be found on the Microbiology Society website.

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