Biofilms and Disease

Individual bacterial cells don't always live in isolation. Some types of cells thrive in groups, offering each other protection, shared nutrients and sending signals for when to divide or produce certain biological compounds. Fungi, algae and other microorganisms can also produce biofilms. Biofilms consist of extracellular polymers that help microorganisms stick to surfaces. A common example of this is dental plaque.

Biofilms are studied for their potential commercial usefulness such as wastewater treatment and bioremediation. Because the biofilm confers increased antibiotic resistance to microorganisms, improving our knowledge of how microorganisms interact and form biofilms will also help treat infections caused by biofilm accumulation on indwelling medical devices such as catheters and pacemakers, or biofilms of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the lungs of Cystic Fibrosis and AIDs patients.