A project testing a new anti-biofilm treatment for data centre cooling systems has received funding from the National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC).

The Data centre cooling system anti-biofilm treatment validation (BIOCOOL) project is among the projects to receive a share of £357,891 funding from NBIC to address biofilm-related challenges through collaboration between researchers and industry.

Led by Dr Joe Parker from the School of Biological Sciences, the project is being delivered in partnership with RBT Ltd, a global developer and manufacturer of hygiene and infection control products.

Helping data centre cooling systems perform more efficiently

Data centre cooling systems are a critical part of modern digital infrastructure but require significant amounts of water and energy. The build-up of biofilms can create health risks and impact performance, further increasing their demand for water and electricity. However, few specific biofilm solutions exist and validation is difficult. 

BIOCOOL aims to address this by testing RBT Ltd’s new environmentally friendly biocide to establish whether it can match or outperform existing treatments.

Researchers will sample biofilms from existing data centres using a range of precision bioscience approaches and test the RBT Ltd. treatment against controls. They will also build a digital twin of the cooling system to replicate real-world conditions. 

The project will last around six months with team members including Dr Callum Highmore, Dr Lucy Sutton, Kirsty Cooper, and Professor Jeremy Webb.

Dr Joe Parker, Senior Research Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences, said: “After our COVID-19 work scaling high-throughput molecular methods, we discovered there was an acute commercial need for our measurement and modelling expertise through the ICURe commercialisation programme.

“It’s fantastic to win this competitive funding and a massive vote of confidence in the team. 18 months into our five-year roadmap, this crucial funding lets us add yet another digital-physical hybrid industrial model to our growing portfolio, which has secured more than £250k from clients, NBIC, the CPNI and the European Space Agency among others.”

Working with industry to tackle biofilm-related challenges

BIOCOOL is one of seven projects to be awarded funding through NBIC’s Industrial Challenge Response Fund (ICRF). The fund is designed to help industry overcome biofilm-related challenges by supporting collaborative innovation between businesses and researchers.

As a lead institution of NBIC, the University of Southampton hosts the largest grouping of biofilm academics in the UK and is unique in its ability to consider biofilms in an integrated way across a range of research areas. These include biological sciences, medicine, chemistry, computational modelling, engineering and ocean science, creating impact across diverse fields of application, from medicine to industry to the environment.

Professor Jo Slater-Jefferies, NBIC Chief Executive Officer, said: “This ICRF call attracted an excellent range of collaborative projects that demonstrate both the strength of UK biofilm research and the appetite from industry to work with academic partners to address critical biofilm-related challenges.

“The projects we are supporting have the potential to deliver significant health, environmental and economic benefits, while strengthening the partnerships needed to accelerate innovation and translation. We look forward to working with the teams as they develop these exciting technologies and solutions.”

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