Biofilm and human spaceflight
- Goeres, Darla M. [ Montana State University: Center for Biofilm Engineering ]
- Velez-Justiniano, Yo-Ann
- Veno Kjellerup, Birthe
- McLean, Robert JC.
On Earth, biofilms are ubiquitous and represent the predominant mode of growth by microorganisms in their natural environments including those of biomedical and industrial importance [1,2]. While microbial contamination has been reported on the Mir (1986–2001) and earlier spacecraft, notably Skylab (1973–1979) [3], the first experimental evidence of biofilm formation during spaceflight was reported with Burkholderia cepacia flown on STS-81 in 1997 [4] and Pseudomonas aeruginosa during a 1998 experiment on STS-95 [5]. Biofilm formation has since been confirmed in a number of other spaceflight and microgravity analog studies (reviewed in Ref. [6]). Due to the potential risk of damage to key spacecraft materials and instrumentation, biofilms represent a risk that must be addressed for future human space missions beyond low Earth orbit [7]. In this special issue of Biofilm, several notable publications are presented that all enhance the understanding and the importance of biofilms in space.