Main description:

The discovery that most of the chronic infections in humans, including the oral, lung, vaginal and foreign body-associated infections, are biofilm-based, has prompted the need to design new and properly focused preventive and therapeutic strategies for these diseases. Microbial Biofilms: Methods and Protocols provides a detailed description of the currently available methods and protocols to investigate bacterial and fungal biofilms, exhaustively illustrated and critically annotated in 25 chapters written by authors well known for their experience in the respective fields. The book has joined together microbiologists and specialists in infectious diseases, hygiene and public health involved in exploring different aspects of microbial biofilms as well as in designing new methods and/or developing innovative laboratory protocols. Written in the successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible protocols and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls.

Authoritative and easily accessible, Microbial Biofilms: Methods and Protocols presents readers with the most established and validated experimental procedures to investigate microbial biofilms.

Contents:

Part I. Investigations on Biofilms in Health and Disease

1. Methods for Dynamic Investigations of Surface Attached in vitro Bacterial and Fungal Biofilms

Claus Sternberg, Thomas Bjarnsholt, and Mark Shirtliff

2. Aqueous Two-Phase System Technology for Patterning Bacterial Communities and Biofilms

Mohammed Dwidar, Shuichi Takayama, and Robert J. Mitchell

3. Quorum Sensing in Gram-Positive Bacteria: Assay Protocols for Staphylococcal agr and enterococcal fsr Systems

Akane Shojima and Jiro Nakayama

4. Advanced Techniques for in situ Analysis of the Biofilm Matrix (Structure, Composition, Dynamics) by Means of Laser Scanning Microscopy

Thomas R. Neu and John R. Lawrence

5. Multiplex Fluorescence in situ Hybridization (M-FISH) and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM) to Analyse Multispecies Oral Biofilms

Lamprini Karygianni, Elmar Hellwig, Ali Al-Ahmad

6. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy of Biofilm-Growing Bacteria Involved in Nosocomial Infections

Claudia Vuotto and Gianfranco Donelli

7. Experimental Approaches to Investigating the Vaginal Biofilm Microbiome

Marc M. Baum, Manjula Gunawardana, and Paul Webster

8. Imaging Bacteria and Biofilms on Hardware and Periprosthetic Tissue in Orthopaedic Infections

L. Nistico, L. Hall-Stoodley, and P. Stoodley

9. Animal Models to Evaluate Bacterial Biofilm Development

Kim Thomsen, Hannah Trostrup, and Claus Moser

10. Animal Models to Investigate Fungal Biofilm Formation

Jyotsna Chandra, Eric Pearlman, and Mahmoud A. Ghannoum

11. Non-Mammalian Model Systems to Investigate Fungal Biofilms

Marios Arvanitis, Beth Burgwyn Fuchs, and Eleftherios Mylonakis

Part II. Investigations on anti-biofilm compounds and strategies

12. Microbiological Methods for Target-Oriented Screening of Biofilm Inhibitors

Livia Leoni and Paolo Landini

13. In vitro Screening of Antifungal Compounds Able to Counteract Biofilm Development

Marion Girardot and Christine Imbert

14. Biofilm Matrix-Degrading Enzymes

Jeffrey B. Kaplan

15. Efficacy Evaluation of Antimicrobial Drug-Releasing Polymer Matrices

Iolanda Francolini, Antonella Piozzi, and Gianfranco Donelli

16. Antibiotic Polymeric Nanoparticles for Biofilm-Associated Infection Therapy

Wean Sin Cheow and Kunn Hadinoto

17. Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Antibiotics in Biofilm Infections of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in vitro and in vivo

Wang Hengzhuang, Niels Hoiby, and Oana Ciofu

18. Contribution of Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy in Deciphering Biofilm Tridimensional Structure and Reactivity

Arnaud Bridier and Romain Briandet

19. Chip-Calorimetry for Evaluation of Biofilm Treatment with Biocides, Antibiotics and Biological Agents

Frida Mariana, Friederike Buchholz, and Thomas Maskow

20. Bacteriophage Attack as an Anti-Biofilm Strategy

Sanna Sillankorva and Joana Azeredo

21. Photodynamic Therapy as a Novel Antimicrobial Strategy Against Biofilm-Based Nosocomial Infections: Study Protocols

Francesco Giuliani

Part III. Investigations on biofilms in the environment and manufacturing plants

22. Capturing Air-Water Interface Biofilms for Microscopy and Molecular Analysis

Margaret C. Henk

23. Biofilm-Growing Bacteria Involved in the Corrosion of Concrete Wastewater Pipes: Protocols for Comparative Metagenomic Analyses

Vicente Gomez-Alvarez

24. Culture-Independent Methods to Study Subaerial Biofilm Growing on Biodeteriorated Surfaces of Cultural Heritage Stone Materials and Frescoes

Francesca Cappitelli, Federica Villa, and Andrea Polo

25. Biofilms of Thermophilic Bacilli Isolated from Dairy Processing Plants and Efficacy of Sanitizers

Sara A. Burgess, Denise Lindsay, and Steve H. Flint