I found this article at MedGadget blog today about a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem that found a way to control bacterial activity without antibiotics, he interferes with their communication process.
Only recently has it been discovered that the bacteria assembled in biofilms have a network of communication between them called “quorum sensing,” which controls their collective activity (or lack thereof). These sensing signals control the physiology and pathogenicity of the bacteria in the biofilms. A boron-based molecule that is produced by these bacteria, called auto inducer-2, controls the signals in this quorum sensing process.
More via MedGadget here.