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Biofilms Beware

Jul 04, 2007

Biofilms, or bacterial communities seemingly glued together, have become a major problem in medicine as conventional antibiotics can't break them apart to kill the bacteria. This Tech Review article describes synthetic biology work from Boston University researchers, led by Jim Collins, who engineered viruses to attack the biofilm -- killing the bacteria within and dissolving the strong bonds holding the whole mess together. You can also check out the paper in PNAS here.

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