Technologies for Understanding Microbial Interactions

Microbes adhere to and colonize biointerfaces to form biofilms, which are layers of extracellular polymeric substances embedding bacterial colonies. Biofilm formation is associated with chronic infections as the microbial cells embedded in these multicellular structures are extremely difficult to eradicate with antibiotics due to high resistance. However, new findings have demonstrated that single-, as well as multi-, species microbial communities, can modulate human health by various means, more especially through interactions with the host. This session will present new methods to study microorganism through artificial communities developed in controlled environments.