Comment Re:Killing household mold (Score 5, Informative) 58
The base layer you're referring to is usually termed a "biofilm", and they are complex, three-dimensional, organized structures of living (and some "hibernating") organisms.
I think the best large-scale analogy to a biofilm would be a rainforest, where there are many levels of depth with complexity that varies depending on where you're looking.
Chemical penetration through that multi-layered structure is extremely complex, and usually substantially slowed. In many cases even potent chemicals such as bleach won't reach the base layers, despite multiple washings with long incubations.
It's not really a problem of being restricted only to "nice" chemicals: we haven't found -any- chemicals that act as a magic bullet. Back when I started research in the field it was thought that quorum sensing might be the cure we were looking for, but it turned out to be much less useful than hoped.
As for the previous comments on Dr. Bassler and her "discoveries", I think people react negatively to exaggerated claims of novelty. If the fault for that those exaggerations lay with TED, then they are being a bit sloppy, but if Bassler herself suggests that she is intellectually dishonest. Her work ~1994 seems to be very highly regarded in establishing the study of quorum sensing, but there are several papers from the years just previous to that which actually discovered it.
I think the best large-scale analogy to a biofilm would be a rainforest, where there are many levels of depth with complexity that varies depending on where you're looking.
Chemical penetration through that multi-layered structure is extremely complex, and usually substantially slowed. In many cases even potent chemicals such as bleach won't reach the base layers, despite multiple washings with long incubations.
It's not really a problem of being restricted only to "nice" chemicals: we haven't found -any- chemicals that act as a magic bullet. Back when I started research in the field it was thought that quorum sensing might be the cure we were looking for, but it turned out to be much less useful than hoped.
As for the previous comments on Dr. Bassler and her "discoveries", I think people react negatively to exaggerated claims of novelty. If the fault for that those exaggerations lay with TED, then they are being a bit sloppy, but if Bassler herself suggests that she is intellectually dishonest. Her work ~1994 seems to be very highly regarded in establishing the study of quorum sensing, but there are several papers from the years just previous to that which actually discovered it.
