This 1 ECTS course at Karolinska Institutet aims to address selected important aspects of biofilm formation and its regulation. Topics covered will include prevention of microbial biofilm formation, biofilm-host interaction and the impact of biofilm formation in the clinical setting. In the practicals, different microbial biofilm models and principle biofilm-related experiments will be demonstrated and performed by the participants on an individual basis in order to encourage critical assessment of experimental data. The course will also discuss how biofilm derived principles benefit other research areas.

Background: biofilm formation in the most common microbial life style in environmental and clinical settings. Thereby, the National Institute of Health and the Center of Disease Control estimate that 60-80% of human microbial infections are biofilm-associated infections. Microbial biofilm formation, similar to tissue formation in higher organisms, is highly complex, but follows some common principles in many microbes.

Preliminary schedule

Registration deadline – 22 December 2017

There will be a written examination at the end of the course upon results from the course practicals; own sample to assess biofilm formation (within security class 1 and 2 organisms; can be provided)

Maximum number of participants: 20

Responsible and contact person(s):
Sulman Shafeeq (sulman.shafeeq@ki.se)
Petra Lüthje (petra.luthje@ki.se)
Ute Römling (Ute.Romling@ki.se)

Course venue: Course laboratory, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Scheeles väg 2 and MTC seminar room A301, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet (KI)

Bookings