npj Biofilms and Microbiomes considers research that explores the biology, ecology, and communal function of biofilms, microbial populations, and communities, as well as derived applications across the medical, environmental, and engineering sciences. 
 
The journal covers a broad range of topics including but not limited to:  

    Basic microbiology of biofilms and microbiome, including genetics, effect of the micro and macro environment, evolution, internal and external dynamics 
    Molecular mechanisms of biofilm formation 
    Biofilm-associated properties 
    Strategies and technologies for the prevention of biofilm formation 
    Qualitative and quantitative methods to detect biofilms remotely and in situ 
    Mechanical, chemical, and therapeutic strategies for removing biofilms 
    Control of biofilms and biofilm engineering Biofilms in industrial, ecological, and clinical contexts 
    Host-microbiome interactions in animals and plants 
    Host-microbiome interactions in health and disease 
    Ecology, evolution, and function of environmental microbiomes  
    Microbial communities in extreme environments 
    Engineering and manipulation of microbiomes 
    Bioinformatics 

The journal offers more choice to Nature Portfolio authors who are seeking a fully open-access and more inclusive platform for publishing their work. The journal is led by biofilms and microbiomes experts who collaborate to cultivate high-quality research. As part of the npj Series, this journal focuses on fostering global partnerships with the research community and other Springer Nature journals.

Article, Brief Communication, Comment, Editorial, Matters Arising, Meeting Report, perspective, Review

Editors-in-Chief  
Alain Filloux
Chair in Molecular Microbiology
Imperial College London
London, UK
 
Dr. Alain Filloux is Professor and Chair in Molecular Microbiology at Imperial College London. He is an international leader in studying Pseudomonas aeruginosa pathogenesis. Early in his career, he pointed to the existence of bacterial protein secretion systems, which later became known as types (T1SS, T2SS, T3SS, etc.) and published seminal papers on the T2SS. His recent findings have been instrumental in understanding regulatory networks that control the P. aeruginosa lifestyles, and the switch between the planktonic or biofilm mode. His current work is on c-di-GMP signalling, and type VI secretion system (T6SS), the latter being a nano-weapon involved in modulating the composition of polymicrobial populations. 
Catherine Lozupone,
Assistant Professor of Medicine
University of Colorado
CO, USA
 
Dr. Lozupone's research focuses on the complex community of microorganisms that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract. She has been heavily involved in the development of popular computational tools for microbial community analysis, such as the UniFrac algorithm for comparing microbial diversity among many samples using phylogenetic information. The Lozupone lab is currently working to understand microbiome composition and function in a variety of disease contexts, with an emphasis on the interaction between the gut microbiome and local and systemic immune phenotypes in HIV-infected individuals.
Associate Editors
Tom Battin, PhD
Professor
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
Lausanne, Switzerland
 
Tom Battin's lab, the "Stream Biofilm and Ecosystem Research Laboratory," at EPFL is interested in biofilms, the dominant form of microbial life ins treams, and they study the assembly of these microbial “jungles” and the biodiversity dynamics therein ranging from the microbial scale to the scale of the entire stream networks. His principal interest is the microbial ecology and biogeochemistry of stream ecosystems. He is a pioneer in the observation of biofilms in the context of stream dynamics. His research has contributed to the development and use of advanced analytical methods for improving and understanding the structure and function of sedimentary microbial communities in shallow freshwater.
Jean-Marc Ghigo, PhD
Professor, Head of Genetics of Biofilms Laboratory
Institut Pasteur
Paris, France
 Dr. Jean-Marc Ghigo is a Professor at Institut Pasteur, Paris, where he is the Head of the Genetics of Biofilms laboratory in the Department of Microbiology. His research contributed to a better understanding of the biological resources used by commensal and pathogenic bacteria to form biofilms. The Ghigo lab is currently focusing on the identification of the structures involved in bacteria-surface interactions and of the physiological adaptations to biofilm microenvironments leading to the emergence of biofilm-associated properties, with particular emphasis on biofilm tolerance to antibiotics. Some aspects of his research also aim to translate these fundamental approaches towards clinically relevant situations involving biofilms. 
Omry Koren, PhD
Senior Lecturer
Head of Microbiome Research Lab Azrieli Faculty of Medicine
Bar-Ilan University
Safed, Israel
Dr. Omry Koren has diverse experience in the microbiome field, ranging from coral microbiota all the way to the Human Microbiome Project, in which he participated in data analysis and developing tools for microbiome analysis. Today, Omry’s research focuses on the interactions between the gut microbiota and the host, with a primary interest in the interplay between the microbiota and the host endocrine system. A good example of this is in pregnancy, during which significant changes in microbiota composition, host hormonal levels and immune responsiveness all converge to promote healthy fetal development, and in which certain pregnancy complications may be associated with alterations in the microbiota.
Sandra L. McLellan, PhD
Professor, School of Freshwater Sciences
University of Wisconsin
WI, USA
 
Sandra McLellan's work focuses on understanding the linkages between the environment and human health, particularly in urban coast systems. Her lab uses the microbiome signatures from animals and humans to identify pollution sources in water. The overall goal of their research is to understand pathogen fate in large freshwater systems such as the Great Lakes, and develop new approaches for assessing pollution sources so that strategies can be devised to protect the Great Lakes and human health. This work has enabled the lab to quantify pollution signals from densely populated areas and delineate the imprint of non-indigenous bacteria on natural communities in coastal ecosystems. 
Editorial Board
Fredrik Bäckhed Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Jill Banfield Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Management, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
Ehud Banin The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
Martin J Blaser Departments of Medicine and Microbiology, NYU School of Medicine, New York, USA
Cameron Currie Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Joël Doré Unit for Ecology and Physiology of the Digestive System, French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), France
Nicole Dubilier Department of Symbiosis, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany
Hans-Curt Flemming Biofilm Centre, Faculty of Chemistry, Universtity of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Hervé Guillou Unit ToxAlim, French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), Toulouse, France
Bill Hanage Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Massachusettes, USA
Harald Horn Engler-Bunte-Institut, Water Chemistry and Water Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
Jurg Keller Advanced Water Management Centre, University of Queensland, Australia
Hiroaki Kitano The Systems Biology Institute, Tokyo, Japan
Rob Knight Departments of Pediatrics and Computer Science & Engineering, University of California at San Diego, California, USA
Ilana Kolodkin-Gal Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
Katherine P. Lemon The Forsyth Institute and Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Massachusettes, USA
Jose L. Lopez-Ribot Department of Biology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas, USA
Annette Moter Biofilmcenter, German Heart Center Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Thomas R. Neu Department of River Ecology, Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Magdeburg, Germany
Jens Nielsen Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Staffan Normark Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Victoria Orphan Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, California, USA
Sven Pettersson Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Lutgarde Raskin Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, Michigan, USA
David A. Relman Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, California, USA
Scott A. Rice The School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Agneta Richter-Dahlfors Swedish Medical Nanoscience Center, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Ute Römling Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Philippe Sansonetti Laboratory of Molecular Microbial Pathogenesis, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
Phil Stewart Centre for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University, Montana, USA
Marc Strous Energy Bioengineering and Geomicrobiology Research Group, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Tim Tolker-Nielsen Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Willy Verstraete Emeritus Professor, Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology (LabMET), Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Belgium
Tom Van de Wiele Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology, Ghent University, Belgium
Bryan A. White Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Illinois, USA
Marvin Whiteley Molecular Biosciences Department, University of Texas at Austin, Texas, USA