Theoretical Sciences Unit Seminar

Colloquium Announcement

Speaker: Dr. Suman Das

Affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, University of Cologne

Date: 6th January 2023 (Friday)

Time: 11:00 AM
Coffee/Tea: 10:45 AM

Venue: Kanada Auditorium, JNCASR

Title: Ruggedness and Accessibility in Fitness Landscapes of Drug Resistance

Abstract: To understand the evolution of drug resistance, we must analyze the fitness landscapes of bacteria as a function of antibiotic concentration. We have developed an empirically-informed theoretical model of bacterial landscapes that incorporates tradeoffs between adaptation to low- and high-antibiotic regimes. The fitness landscapes are found to be highly rugged. We show that, in contrast to standard fitness landscape models, the high ruggedness coexists with high evolutionary accessibility of fitness maxima from the wild type. We develop a framework based on the physics of driven disordered systems to analyze evolutionary patterns on these landscapes under changing antibiotic concentration.

All are cordially invited.