Applied Seminar - Modelling the action of antibiotics on bacterial cells, Professor Rosalind Allen (University of Edinburgh) Seminar
- Time:
- 12:00 - 13:00
- Date:
- 6 February 2018
- Venue:
- Room 4001, Ketley Room, Building 54, Mathematical Sciences, University of Southampton, Highfield Campus, SO17 1BJ
For more information regarding this seminar, please email Dr Philip Greulich at P.S.Greulich@southampton.ac.uk .
Event details
The emergence of bacterial infections that are resistant to antibiotics is a major emerging global health issue. But in many cases, we do not really understand how antibiotics work in the first place. I will describe a combined experimental and theoretical study in which we aim to make a quantitative model for how antibiotics which target bacterial cell-wall synthesis work. Our results suggest that simple mathematical models can help in understanding complex growth inhibition phenomena. Developing such models should help in better understanding and mitigating the emergence of antibiotic resistance.
Speaker information
Professor Rosalind Allen, University of Edinburgh. My research focuses on biological and soft condensed matter physics, using simulations, theory and experiments. In particular, I work on microbe-environment interactions - how single-celled organisms such as bacteria survive and grow in complex and changing environments. I am especially interested in how bacterial populations are inhibited by, and evolve resistance to, antibiotics, and how nutrient-cycling microbial ecosystems establish themselves and maintain their function.