Download or read book The Biofilm Primer written by J. William Costerton and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-03-06 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book details the widely accepted hypothesis that the majority of bacteria in virtually all ecosystems grow in matrix-enclosed biofilms. The author, who first proposed this biofilm hypothesis, uses direct evidence from microscopy and from molecular techniques, arguing cogently for moving beyond conventional culture methods that dominated microbiology in the last century. Bacteria grow predominantly in biofilms in natural, engineered, and pathogenic ecosystems; this book provides a solid basis for the understanding of bacterial processes in environmental, industrial, agricultural, dental and medical microbiology. Using a unique "ecological" perspective, the author explores the commensal and pathogenic colonization of human organ systems.