MESTECH Researcher Kicks Off PhD Attending ‘The Perfect Slime’ Biofouling Conference, University of Duisburg-Essen

On the 10th of September 2014 MESTECH researcher Alan Barrett attended ‘The Perfect Slime’ biofouling conference hosted by Prof. Hans-Curt Flemming in the University of Duisburg-Essen.
With the announcement of his retirement Prof. Flemming, a highly influential biofilm researcher, decided along with a number of colleagues in the field to host a conference and display the current forefront of biofilm research. The hosts anticipated the conference would improve the current understanding of Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPS) characteristics, functions and properties as well as providing inspiration for the next technology to control biofilm growth.
EPS constitute the slime coating microorganisms produce on surfaces exposed to aquatic environments. These substances were the primary focus of the conference with presentations on a wide variety of the matrix’s aspects. The 28 talks ranged from imaging techniques like fluorescence lectin-binding analysis, to the analysis of biofilms viscoelasticity and methods to reduce microbial adhesion and biofilm production.
Alan’s PhD ‘’Development of novel nano-surface enhancement for the development of improved antifouling materials for marine sensing applications’’ aims to produce a material that retards the biofouling process on sensors and so this conference was a great starting point. Alan attended the 28 talks that took place over 3 days and used the poster and networking sessions to introduce him-self to potential collaborators as well as investigating how others deal with issues soon to be encountered.