Foreword

Biofilms have a greater role to play in public health because of their involvement in various infectious diseases and a proper understanding of the biofilm processes would lead to find out novel and effective strategies for biofilm control and hence patient management improvement.

In this context, the book on "Microbial Biofilms: Importance and Applications" edited by Dr. D. Dhanasekaran and Dr. N. Thajuddin is an excellent contribution and a welcome addition to the research field of biofilm formation and development. Editors and contributing authors deserve appreciation for their laudable efforts. The book is presented in four major areas namely Biofilm fundamentals, Biofilm applications, Biofilm in health and diseases, and Biofilm control, embracing topics on grazing effects of ciliates on microcolony formation in bacterial biofilms, role of the biofilms in the waste water and rain water treatment, dental biofilm formation, biofilms in diabetic foot ulcers, biofilm interactions in epizootic shell disease of the American lobster, and natural compounds for new diagnostics and drugs against biofilm infections.

As a whole, this book depicts an excellent overview, importance, and applications of biofilms and it will be a very useful resource for the teachers, researchers, and industries, interested in furthering research in the field of biofilms. Researchers in the fields of clinical, food and water, and environmental microbiology have already begun to investigate microbiological processes from a biofilm perspective. It is heartening to note that considerable efforts have been taken to control biofilms through the application of antiquorum sensing compounds by various microorganisms. Hope these efforts will continue with more vigor, reaping fruits.

**Dr. L. Kannan, D. Sc.,**  Former Director Centre for Advanced Studies in Marine Biology Parangipettai - 608 502, Tamil Nadu, India & Former Director – Research Annamalai University Chidambaram – 608 002 Tamil Nadu, India
