Speaker:
Frank Bruggeman, System Biology Lab, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Title:
(Re)Thinking growth of cell populations from a single-cell perspective
Abstract:
Exponential growth of cells is likely one of the most fundamental and well-known biological phenomena. All biologists, like me, did this experiment in their first year microbiology course. There is nothing to it. Some of you might even think, “What a dull topic!”. I disagree. Especially, when you start thinking about single cells in exponentially-growing populations. Do single cells grow exponential? Do they have to? How do you define the average cell — on which our deterministic, ODE descriptions of cell growth are based? Do bounds exist for the phenotypic heterogeneity of single cells in such populations? In this talk, I will answer such questions by showing you the associated experiment and the theory. It turns out that still much is to be learned for, perhaps, the simplest biological experiment., and books chapters.
This talk will be followed by refreshments that will be served in the Maths Common Room.