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Revealing a world of biofilms — the pioneering research of Bill Costerton

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 12, pages 781–787 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Bill Costerton is recognized as the founding father of the field of biofilms, which is the study of microorganisms attached to surfaces. He was a true pioneer and was passionate about directly observing living complex microbial communities to learn how they function in different ecosystems. His multidisciplinary approach to the study of biofilms forged a common way of thinking about the ways in which microorganisms survive and function in the environment as well as in medical, dental, industrial, agricultural, engineering and other contexts. In this Essay, we outline some of the achievements that Bill made during his scientific journey.

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Figure 1: Bill Costerton relaxing in his office with a picture of his beloved mountains in the background.
Figure 2: A timeline of Bill's research interests and publications spanning his entire career.
Figure 3: The power of the image.

References

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all of Bill's colleagues over the years for their contributions to developing his theories and thinking; they gratefully acknowledge Bill's family for sharing him with his scientific family. They also thank M. Parsek and J. Lam for carefully reviewing the manuscript and providing valuable comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biosciences, University of Swansea, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK

    Hilary Lappin-Scott

  2. Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QD, UK

    Sara Burton

  3. and the Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity and the Department of Orthopaedics, National Centre for Advanced Tribology, Faculty of Engineering, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK, Center for Microbial Interface Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.,

    Paul Stoodley

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Correspondence to Hilary Lappin-Scott or Paul Stoodley.

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Lappin-Scott, H., Burton, S. & Stoodley, P. Revealing a world of biofilms — the pioneering research of Bill Costerton. Nat Rev Microbiol 12, 781–787 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro3343

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