.jpg)
The University of Liverpool is playing a leading role in the continued national growth of the National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC), following the completion of the centre’s sixth round of accession, which welcomes 10 new UK universities and research institutions into its consortium.
NBIC, launched in 2017, was founded by four lead universities, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Nottingham and Southampton, with funding from Innovate UK and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
The centre is led by four Co-Directors, including Professor Rasmita Raval from the University of Liverpool’s Department of Chemistry, alongside Professors Cait MacPhee (Edinburgh), Kim Hardie (Nottingham) and Jeremy Webb (Southampton), and NBIC CEO Jo Slater-Jefferies.
Since its launch, NBIC has grown into a national partnership of 72 research institutions and more than 300 companies, supported by a strong and expanding international network. The centre brings together academic and industrial expertise to address the significant scientific and economic challenges posed by biofilms, which impact an estimated $5 trillion of global economic activity each year across sectors including healthcare, food production, clean water, shipping and energy.
Liverpool’s involvement reflects the University’s strength in surface science, materials discovery and antimicrobial research, and its commitment to translating fundamental research into real-world impact. Through NBIC, Liverpool researchers work closely with industry and academic partners to accelerate innovation, reduce barriers to collaboration and support the development of practical solutions to complex biofilm-related challenges.
The latest accession round further strengthens NBIC’s national reach, with the addition of 10 new research partner institutions. Their inclusion enhances the breadth of expertise within the consortium and supports NBIC’s mission to build long-term, sustainable partnerships that connect academic excellence with industrial need.
Professor Jo Slater-Jefferies, CEO of NBIC, said: “This latest round of accession reflects the extraordinary momentum behind our mission. Over the last eight years, we have built a truly national platform for biofilm innovation, uniting leading universities, research institutions and industry partners to accelerate discovery, strengthen collaboration, and translate world-class research into real-world solutions.”
Professor Rasmita Raval, Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Surface Science Research Centre said: “One of the key aims of Liverpool’s Materials Discovery Research Frontier is to ensure that fundamental research leads to practical solutions. NBIC enables exactly that, allowing us to work at scale with academic and industrial partners to translate advances in surface science and materials discovery into technologies that address real-world challenges, from healthcare to clean energy”