Physics (Internal)

Biological evolution of bacteria - a physicist's point of view

This event is part of the Biophysics Seminars. 12:30PM.

Abstract: Biological evolution is a fascinating subject which can be fully understood only if it is approached from many different angles. In this talk I want to show what physics can offer biological evolution. I will focus on a few aspects of the evolution of bacteria I have been working on recently. I will begin with a simple, statistical-physics model of the evolution of antibiotic resistance. This is a timely and important problem because drug-resistant, pathogenic bacteria are becoming a major health hazard. I will show that such resistant bacteria can emerge very quickly in environments with spatially non-uniform drug concentration such as our bodies during antibiotic treatment. Towards the end of my talk, I will briefly discuss other projects such as the evolution of metabolic networks in bacteria and biological evolution in bacterial colonies growing on solid substrates.