Beyond the Biofilm: From Textiles to Microbes

Bridging Textiles and Microbiology

Interestingly, my career began not in microbiology, but in the textile industry. I trained as a fabric technologist for Aquascutum, a British luxury clothing brand known for its fine tailoring. While I loved the design and textile industry, I realised in my twenties that my true passion was science, especially understanding how microorganisms interact with the things we use every day. That realisation led me back to university to study Biology, where my final-year project in microbiology completely captured my curiosity and resulted in my first publication. From there, I pursued a PhD in microbiology, focusing on natural products as antimicrobials.

When I joined De Montfort University, the connection between textiles and microbiology came full circle. The university’s strong background in textile research gave me a unique opportunity to combine both areas, exploring how textiles can act as fomites, or carriers, for microorganisms. This intersection between textiles and microbes has defined much of my career and continues to inspire my collaborations with textile industry partners in the UK, Europe, and the USA, where we’re working to develop microbiological test standards for the sector.

When Passion Becomes Purpose

I’ve loved science for as long as I can remember. It was always the subject that made me curious about how the world works and why things behave the way they do, and how small changes at the microscopic level can make such a difference to our everyday lives.

When I started my career in the textile industry, I enjoyed the creativity and technical challenges, but I found myself missing science deeply. That realisation was a turning point for me. I’m a strong believer in doing what you love, so I decided to return to university and follow that passion.

At the end of my undergraduate degree, I was offered two PhD opportunities: one fully funded, and another, unfunded, that focused on natural product antimicrobials. Even though the funded option would have been easier, I chose the harder route because it allowed me to work on something I truly cared about. I supported myself as a research assistant while completing the PhD, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, my studies resulted in the disinfectant vapour I was working on being patented. That period taught me perseverance and the value of staying true to your research interests, even when the path isn’t straightforward.

My passion for knowledge exchange (KE) also began during my PhD studies where I was lucky enough to work as the scientist on two series of the TV programme ‘How Clean is Your House?’ This experience made me understand the importance of making science accessible and translatable to have an impact on society.

A Career Path Influenced by Strong Women

I’ve been lucky to have a range of inspirational people shape my journey in science. Some were scientists whose work I admired from afar, and others were mentors who supported me directly through my studies and career. One of my earliest influences was my secondary school biology teacher, Mrs Clarke, who really brought the subject to life and made me realise how powerful science can be in understanding and improving the world around us.

But my drive and determination definitely come from the women in my family. My great-great-grandmother was a head teacher during the Victorian era, quite remarkable for a woman at that time. My great-grandmother knitted and designed for Harrods, my grandmother despite leaving school early went on to run two successful businesses, my mother was a talented seamstress who opened a chain of textile retail shops and my aunt has built an impressive career in finance working in both the commercial and charity sectors. Growing up with women who broke barriers in their own ways showed me that it’s not only acceptable but essential to pursue your passions and carve your own path.

That combination, the curiosity inspired by my teachers and mentors, and the resilience and independence modelled by the women in my family has been central to the way I’ve approached science throughout my career.

Safer Textiles and Smarter Hygiene

My research sits at the intersection of microbiology, textiles, and public health, with a particular focus on infection control. Broadly speaking, it spans two main areas, both of which aim to reduce the spread of infectious diseases and improve hygiene practices in real-world settings.

The first area is textile hygiene and infection transmission. Much of my work has explored how textiles from healthcare uniforms to bed linens can act as fomites, carrying and transmitting microorganisms. This line of research began when I realised that in the UK, nurses’ uniforms are laundered at home, a potential but often overlooked infection route. Since then, I’ve led projects examining everything from the microbiome of domestic washing machines to the effectiveness of industrial vs. home laundering, to infection control practices in care homes. During the pandemic, in collaboration with a virologist, our research on the survival of coronavirus on textiles allowed the industrial laundries to continue in their vital role within our healthcare system. This research has also been included in the COVID-19 enquiry.

Working closely with the Textile Services Association (TSA) and other partners across the UK, Europe, and the USA, my team and I have been developing microbiological testing standards for the laundry industry. These help ensure that textiles particularly in healthcare settings don’t act as hidden sources of infection. Our recent work, in collaboration with the National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC), is now focusing on biofilm formation within industrial laundry systems and how we can prevent them.

The second strand of my research is a little different but equally close to my heart, is public health education. I’m the CEO and Co-founder of A Germ’s Journey, an award-winning educational charity that helps children around the world understand handwashing, hygiene, and AMR. Through our engaging, visual, and hands-on resources, we teach children how germs and antibiotic resistance spread, helping them build healthy habits early in life. This approach has already shown measurable improvements in hygiene awareness across three continents and continues to grow globally. Our materials have reached hundreds of thousands of children across the UK, India, Sierra Leone, and beyond, including through our partnership with Compassion International in 12 countries. We even hold a Guinness World Record for the world’s largest online handwashing lesson, demonstrating how a simple, interactive approach can have a tangible impact, especially in communities where hygiene education can make a real difference to health outcomes.

Both strands of my work, laboratory and education share a common goal: to reduce infection transmission and improve global health through better understanding, standards, and behaviours.

Combatting Biofilms and AMR

All of my research connects in some way to AMR and biofilms, two of the biggest challenges facing global health today.

My work looks at how microorganisms, including antibiotic-resistant strains, can survive and persist on textiles used in healthcare and domestic settings. We’ve found that biofilms can form within domestic laundry systems, which reduces cleaning efficacy and potentially enables resistant microorganisms to spread. By understanding how and where these biofilms develop, we’re working with industry partners to design better cleaning processes, test methods, and standards to minimise risk within the industrial sector.

Turning Research into Real-World Impact

At its heart, my research is about solving very practical, real-world problems, the kind that directly affect people’s health and wellbeing, often in ways that go unnoticed.

One key area is infection prevention in healthcare and care home settings. Textiles such as uniforms, bed linen, and patient clothing are in constant contact with people and surfaces, yet they’re often overlooked in infection control strategies. My work aims to make sure these textiles are not acting as hidden carriers of microorganisms. To do that, we’re developing standardised microbiological testing methods for the industrial laundry industry and guidance and training for care homes so that everyone, from care home laundries to industrial providers, can be confident their cleaning processes truly eliminate harmful microbes.

Ultimately, everything I do comes back to one goal: reducing preventable infections whether that’s by improving industry standards, influencing policy, or empowering the next generation to take control of their own health.

Uncovering Hidden Risks in Textiles and Laundry Systems

In our laboratory and industry-focused work, one of the most striking discoveries has been the extent to which microorganisms can survive on textiles and even within washing machines themselves. We’ve shown that domestically laundered healthcare uniforms often fail to reach temperatures sufficient to kill pathogens, meaning that bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant strains, can persist and potentially spread. In contrast, industrial laundering, when properly controlled, is far more effective at achieving microbiological safety.

We’ve also found that biofilms can build up within washing systems these complex microbial communities can protect bacteria from disinfectants and heat. Understanding how these biofilms form and how to break them down is now a major focus of our current research in partnership with NBIC. This work has the potential to directly influence international laundry standards, ensuring that infection control practices are based on solid microbiological evidence rather than assumptions.

Challenges and Culture Shifts

Like many people, I’ve faced a few barriers along the way, but I’ve also learned a lot from them. Early on, when I started A Germ’s Journey, I was told more than once that it would never become more than a single children’s book. Yet today it’s a registered charity with international reach, helping to improve children’s health across continents. That experience taught me an important lesson: sometimes you have to believe in your vision even when others can’t see it yet.

Constructive feedback and mentorship are invaluable, but it’s also important to recognise the difference between guidance that builds you up and criticism that holds you back. I’ve always tried to take advice that helps me grow while staying true to the purpose behind my work.

Another challenge came when I returned to work after having my son, 13 years ago. I was temporarily removed from some of my leadership responsibilities, which felt like a setback at the time. But thankfully, things have changed a lot since then both in academia and in industry. I now work flexibly and keep to school hours, and my colleagues are incredibly supportive. Meetings are scheduled with that in mind, and there’s a genuine understanding that family and career can and should coexist.

It’s been encouraging to see the culture shift toward greater empathy and flexibility. It proves that with the right support and inclusive practices, we can create environments where everyone, regardless of circumstance can thrive and still achieve great things.

The Power of Cross-Disciplinary Support

I’ve been very fortunate to have had fantastic mentors throughout my career, people who’ve supported me not only in microbiology but also in the social sciences and industry partnerships that underpin so much of my work.

When I co-founded A Germ’s Journey, for example, I was suddenly navigating areas like public engagement, behavioural science, and education theory. Having mentors from those disciplines was invaluable they helped me understand how to bridge the gap between the laboratory and real-world impact, and how to communicate science in a way that truly connects with people.

Likewise, collaborating with industry mentors, especially through organisations like the Textile Services Association (TSA) and NBIC, has been instrumental. They’ve helped me see how academic research translates into policy, practice, and industrial innovation and that perspective has shaped how I design and lead my research projects today.

Ultimately, feeling included in science has come from being part of a collaborative, cross-disciplinary community where people value what each other brings to the table. Mentorship, in that sense, isn’t just about career advice it’s about widening your perspective and ensuring your science has meaning beyond the lab.

Connecting Voices Worldwide for One Health Solutions

I think the biofilm research community is, by nature, a very supportive and collaborative one, which is something I really value. But like many areas of science, there are still challenges when it comes to ensuring equity and inclusion on a global scale.

One of the biggest issues is the need for a truly global “One Health” approach, one that connects public, commercial, and academic sectors, and values contributions from researchers in all parts of the world. The reality is that access to resources, funding, and facilities can vary enormously between regions, and that creates inequalities in who gets to contribute to and benefit from the science being done.

In infection control and AMR research, these gaps are particularly important to address because diseases don’t respect borders and neither should our responses. A more inclusive, globally networked approach would allow us to share knowledge, learn from diverse contexts, and develop solutions that work everywhere, not just in high-resource settings.

Ultimately, improving EDI in the biofilm community isn’t just the right thing to do ethically it’s also essential for better, more impactful science. When a wider range of voices and experiences are included, our research becomes more innovative, more relevant, and more representative of the real-world challenges we’re trying to solve.

Turning Inclusion from Policy Into Practice

I think we’ve made real progress in recent years, but there’s still a lot more that institutions and organisations can do to make diversity and inclusion a lived reality rather than just a policy statement.

For me, one of the most important changes is creating genuinely flexible working environments, ones that recognise that people have different responsibilities and life circumstances. Simple things like flexible hours, hybrid working, and understanding around family commitments can make a huge difference, especially for women and caregivers who might otherwise feel pushed out of leadership pathways.

Another key area is mentorship and career development. We need to make sure that early-career researchers have access to strong, supportive mentors who can help them navigate academic and industrial systems. Mentorship isn’t just about guidance; it’s about visibility, confidence, and knowing that there’s a place for you in the community.

I’d also love to see institutions reward collaboration and impact as much as individual achievement. So much of the best science, particularly in fields like biofilms and infection control, comes from interdisciplinary teamwork. Valuing that diversity of expertise and the people behind it helps build a more inclusive culture overall.

Ultimately, inclusion in science is about creating spaces where everyone feels they belong and can contribute fully. When we get that right, not only do we support individuals, we also strengthen the science itself.

The Transformative Power of Mentorship

I’ve had some brilliant mentors throughout my career, many of whom I met through collaborations rather than formal mentoring schemes. Some were my research supervisors, while others came from completely different disciplines particularly the social sciences, which have become an important part of my work in infection control and public engagement.

Having mentors from outside my own field has been transformative. They’ve helped me think about the human side of microbiology, how behaviours, attitudes, and social factors influence the spread of infection and the success of interventions. That broader perspective has really shaped the way I design research projects today, especially those that combine laboratory science with public education.

For me, the best mentors are those who share your vision and understand your real-world challenges. As a working mother, I’ve also appreciated mentors who model balance and flexibility people who show that you can have both a fulfilling career and a family life.

Ultimately, mentorship has been less about one person guiding me and more about learning from a network of people who each bring something different, whether that’s technical expertise, leadership insight, or empathy and perspective.

NBIC Funding, Connections, and Innovation

NBIC has been an incredible partner throughout my career, supporting both my research on biofilms and my public engagement work.

They’ve provided funding and opportunities that have really accelerated my research progress, including support for A Germ’s Journey and our AMR educational resources, which have helped expand their reach and impact. More recently, we’ve received CTP funding for two PhD studentships to investigate biofilm formation in industrial laundry systems. That research will be vital in helping us understand how to prevent biofilm build-up and improve infection control standards across the laundry industry over the next few years.

NBIC has also supported us through a Talent Mobility Grant, which has strengthened collaborations between academia, the Germ’s Journey charity and industry. Beyond the funding itself, they’ve been fantastic at facilitating connections, hosting scientific meetings, and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration.

Scaling Impact and Setting Standards

Looking ahead, I have two main goals that really drive me, one focused on education and public health, and the other on industry standards and infection control.

For A Germ’s Journey, my aim is to continue building the charity so that we can reach our ambitious mission of educating one billion children by 2030. We’ve already reached hundreds of thousands of individuals across multiple countries, and we’re constantly developing new ways to make hygiene education more accessible, whether that’s through multilingual resources, digital platforms, or partnerships with organisations that can help us reach the communities who need it most.

On the research side, I’m committed to improving global standardisation across the industrial laundry sector. We must have consistent microbiological testing and validation methods worldwide, so that everyone from hospitals to care homes can trust that their laundering processes are truly effective in reducing infection risk.

I’d also like to see UK healthcare uniforms return to being laundered professionally, either on-site or through industrial facilities, rather than at home. The evidence we’ve gathered clearly shows that domestic washing doesn’t always achieve the microbial reduction needed to protect patients or staff. Alongside that, I want to see stronger infection control support for the care home sector, where residents are often most vulnerable.

All of these goals tie back to a single vision: creating safer, healthier environments through science, education, and collaboration.

Supporting Emerging Scientific Talent

What excites me most about the future of this field is the next generation of scientists coming through. There’s so much creativity, energy, and curiosity among early-career researchers, and they’re approaching science in wonderfully interdisciplinary ways that break down traditional barriers between fields.

As a more senior scientist, I see it as our responsibility to nurture and support that new talent, to give them the tools, confidence, and opportunities to follow their ideas wherever they lead. The more diverse the perspectives and approaches we bring to science, the more powerful our collective impact will be.

For me, that’s what makes the future so exciting: knowing that the work we’re doing today is helping to pave the way for the scientists of tomorrow, who will take these ideas further and push boundaries.

Find out more

If you are interested in learning more about Professor Laird’s work and would like to connect, please contact NBIC at nbic@biofilms.ac.uk

Professor Katie Laird, Professor of Microbiology and Deputy Director of the Leicester Institute for Pharmaceutical and Health Innovations at De Montfort University.