The notorious bacteria E. coli is best known for making people sick, but scientists have reprogrammed the microbe — which also comes in harmless varieties — to make it seek out and fight other disease-causing pathogens.
While medicine has treated bacterial infections in one of two ways— either killing the tiny organisms or slowing down their growth— doctors may soon have yet another weapon in the fight against pathogenic bacteria.
Biofilms may no longer have any solid ground upon which to stand. A team of Harvard scientists has developed a slick way to prevent the troublesome bacterial communities from ever forming on a surface.