The Biofilm Primer

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.


J. William (Bill) Costerton directed the NSF-funded Center for Biofilm Engineering in Montana for more than a decade. In 2004, Bill was recruited by the University of Southern California to build a center for biofilms in the dental and medical areas. As one of the world's top 100 most-cited authors in microbiology, he has published more than 600 papers in refereed journals. He has received several awards and was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2005. Bill is widely regarded as the 'grandfather' of biofilm microbiology.