- Series
- Mathematical Biology Seminar
- Time
- Wednesday, March 2, 2022 - 10:00am for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
- Location
- ONLINE
- Speaker
- Yuexia Luna Lin – École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne – https://ylunalin.com/
- Organizer
- Daniel Cruz
Please Note: Meeting Link: https://bluejeans.com/426529046/8775
The type VI secretion system (T6SS) is a bacterial subcellular structure that has been likened to a molecular syringe, capable of directly injecting toxins into neighboring cells. Bacteria use T6SS to kill competitor cells, gaining limited space and resources, such as a niche in a host. T6SS has been found in about 25% of Gram negative bacteria, including some human pathogens. Thus, understanding regulation, control, and function of T6SS, as well as the role of T6SS in interbacterial competition, has far-reaching ramifications. However, there are many open questions in this active research area, especially since bacteria have evolved diverse ways in producing and engaging this lethal weapon.
In a multidisciplinary collaboration, we combine experiments and applied mathematics to address a central question about T6SS’s role in interbacterial competition: what is the connection between the subcellular dynamics of T6SS and the competitive strength of the population as a whole? Based on detailed microscopy data, we develop a model on the scale of individual T6SS structures, which is then integrated with an agent-based model (ABM) to enable multi-scale simulations. In this talk, we present the experimental data, the subcellular T6SS model, and findings about T6SS-dependent competitions obtained by simulating the ABM.
Recording link: https://bluejeans.com/s/6fzcqvzTQ5m