Biofilms: from the cradle of life to life support
Biofilms are intricately associated with life on Earth, enabling functions essential to human and plant systems, but their susceptibility to spaceflight stressors and functional disruption in space remains incompletely understood. During spaceflight, biofilms have largely been considered as potential infrastructure, life support or infection risks. This review focuses on the prevailing beneficial roles of biofilms in human and plant health, and examines evidence of biofilm adaptability in space environments.
Authors
- Eszter Sas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7677-7906)
- Madhan R. Tirumalai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5999-333X)
- Katherine J. Baxter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8237-9103)
- Borja Barbero Barcenilla (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5529-5147)
- Benjamin A. Sikes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0774-2624)
- Nikhil Pradeep (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4199-143X)
- Vinothkannan Ravichandran (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8161-3620)
- Guerrino Macori (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5835-8409)
- Charles Naney
- Miguel Angel Vargas Cruz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2451-3041)
- Kajari Das (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3491-7258)
- Alavia Batool (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0981-7470)
- Zhihan Shi
- Dirk Neefs
- Vandana Verma
- Michaela Walsh
- Niamh Kennerdale
- Fathi Karouia
- Anish Kelam
- Kevin B. Clark
- Emmanuel Gonzalez
- Nicholas J. B. Brereton
Institutions
- University College Dublin (IE)
- Macau University of Science and Technology (MO)
- Ames Research Center (US)
- Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (IN)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- University of Kansas (US)
- National University of Ireland, Maynooth (IE)
- Baylor College of Medicine (US)
- Georgia State University (US)
- University of Milan (IT)
- North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (US)
- China National Space Administration (CN)
- Edwin Clark University (NG)
- PaneraTech (United States) (US)
- Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (US)
- Cures Within Reach (US)
- National University of Technology (PK)
- Blue Marble Space (US)
- McGill University and Génome Québec Innovation Centre (CA)
- Universidad del Desarrollo Empresarial y Pedagógico (MX)
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science (US)
- Reach Technologies (Canada) (CA)
- University of Houston (US)
- McGill University (CA)
- University of Glasgow (GB)
- Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (US)
- Texas A&M University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Biofilms and Microbiomes
- Published
- 2026-01-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-025-00875-8
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Spaceflight effects on biology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 32.84
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Fundo para o Desenvolvimento das Ciências e da Tecnologia
- National Key Research and Development Program of China