COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Jan. 3, 2011 – By manipulating the way bacteria “talk” to each other, researchers at Texas A&M University have achieved an unprecedented degree of control over the formation and dispersal of biofilms – a finding with potentially significant health and industrial applications, particularly to bioreactor technology. Working with E. coli bacteria, Professor Thomas K. Wood and Associate Professor Arul Jayaraman of the university’s Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering have employed specific signals sent and received between bacteria to trigger the dispersal of biofilm. Their findings appear online in the January 3 edition of “Nature Communications.” The finding is a significant one, Wood said, because biofilms are notoriously difficult to break ... Read More »