Dr. Stoodley has over 25 years experience in biofilm research. Dr. Stoodley received his undergraduate degree in Environmental Sciences from Lancaster University before joining the Center for Biofilm Engineering (CBE) at Montana State University in 1987 where he held the position of Research Scientist. His research focused on biofilm development and mass transport in industrial systems. He completed his PhD in Biological Sciences at Exeter University on biofilm–hydrodynamic interactions between 1996 and 1999 under Professor Hilary-Lappin Scott before returning to the CBE for postdoctoral training under the mentorship of Professor Bill Costerton on the role cell signaling and hydrodynamics on biofilm formation and mechanical properties. This research led to the creation of the Biofilm Mechanics research group of which he was the group leader. He also held the position of Adjunct Associate Professor in the departments of Microbiology, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering where he supervised post graduate and undergraduate student research projects from each of these departments in his lab. Between 2003 and 2008 Dr. Stoodley held the posts of Associate Professor of Immunology and Microbiology with Drexel College of Medicine and Vice-Director of Imaging at the Center for Genomic Sciences (CGS) at Allegheny General Hospital (AGH), Pittsburgh, where he maintains continuing active collaborations as Affiliate Associate Professor. While at AGH Dr. Stoodley worked with clinicians and supervised medical resident student projects from various medical and surgical specialties on the development of techniques used to diagnosis bacterial biofilms associated with chronic infections including the detection of pathogen containing biofilms associated with failed prosthetic joints. Dr. Stoodley joined the National Centre National Center for Advanced Tribology at Southampton University (nCATS) in the department of Engineering Sciences in 2009 and developed industrially funded collaborations with Southampton General Hospital and the National Oceanographic Centre on areas as diverse as developing medical imaging techniques to detect biofilms in central venous catheters to the early detection and prevention of marine biofouling on ship hulls.
Dr. Stoodley serves as a consultant for Philips Oral Healthcare POH and Biocomposites and has been recognized as a Key Opinion Leader (KOL) in the area of biofilms by POH and Mentor, a Johnson and Johnson company. Dr. Stoodley served as assistant editor of Biofouling journal (Impact Factor 4.4 from 2006 until May 2013) and was co-organizer of the three American Society of Microbiology “Biofilms” international conference series between 2003 and 2009. Dr. Stoodley was awarded the 2003 Outstanding Research Award by the College of Engineering, MSU, and a Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (HWK) fellowship for collaborative research with Dr. Dirk deBeer, Head of Microsensors at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany, with whom he maintains an active collaboration. Dr. Stoodley has published over 130 articles including reviews, research papers and book chapters in various clinical and academic journals; he has given over one hundred seminars where he has presented his to a wide variety of academic, industrial and healthcare international audiences. Dr. Stoodley has been funded from a variety of US and UK government agencies as well as from industrial partners.
His research interests are broad, drawn from experience in medicine, engineering and basic microbiology where he sees great opportunity for facilitating interdisciplinary approaches to biofilm research, including;
* Control of dental biofilms.
* Diagnosis of biofilm infections in orthopedic and general surgery.
* Development of antibiofilm materials and coatings.
* Influence of genetic and environmental factors on biofilm development and dynamic behavior.
* Mechanical strength of biofilms and removal strategies.
* Biofilm monitoring in medicine, industry and natural environments