Bacterial Degradation of Organic and Inorganic Materials: Staphylococcus aureus Meets the Nanoworld

This interdisciplinary work deals with the bacterial degradation of organic and inorganic materials such as prosthetic devices and the consequent production of non-engineered nanoparticles (NPs). Focus is put on the interaction of these, often toxic, NPs with the environment, the microorganisms and the host human body.  Electron Microscopy is the method of choice to investigate bacterial colonization and degradation of plastic polymers. Hence one section of the book is fully dedicated to the most recent and interesting microscopy technologies in microbiology and soft matters.  The final chapter of the book on the complex and multivariate relationships between a microscopist and electron microscopy images is dedicated to Lyubov Vasilievna Didenko (1958 – 2015), a passionate researcher who contributed substantially to the field of Electron Microscopy research and its applications in studying bacterial-polymer interactions.  The book addresses researchers and advanced students working in general and clinical microbiology, nanobiology, materials sciences and image analysis fields.