Funding is provided to support the participation of young foreign and US scientists in a meeting entitled 'Biofilms 2000', that is being sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). This meeting, held at the Big Sky Resort in Montana during the summer of 2000, brings together researchers in the field of bacterial biofilms from all over the world. A similar ASM conference, in Snowbird, Utah in 1996, drew 360 participants from 42 countries and was characterized by the purposeful inclusion of young investigators, postdoctoral fellows and students, mostly from the US and UK. The Snowbird meeting is widely regarded as having defined the emerging field of Biofilm Microbiology, and many important connections were made between people in different basic disciplines who all share a keen and urgent interest in biofilms. Because of the increased interest in the field, this meeting is expected to draw even more delegates. Matrix enclosed biofilms are responsible for all of the beneficial (sewage treatment) and deleterious (corrosion, fouling) effects of bacteria in industry and in the environment. Biofilms 2000 includes a full day workshop to teach the special biofilm methods necessary for research in this area, and a full day symposium on the development of a special interdisciplinary cadre of scientists who will carry research forward in studies of biofilms.
