Berkeley Fluids Seminar
University of California, Berkeley
Bring your lunch and enjoy learning about fluids!
3110 Etcheverry Hall, 12:00-13:00
Monday, April 24, 2017
Dr. Carl Schreck (UC Berkeley)
Cooperative evolutionary dynamics in mechanically-driven microbial colonies
Abstract: Many cellular populations, ranging from microbial biofilms to solid tumors, exist in a densely packed state where cells must physically push aside their neighbors in order to proliferate. In conjunction with microbial experiments, I develop minimal computational models of growth processes that (1) explicitly model the growth of and forces between individual cells and (2) model the population as a Stokensian fluid where mass is continually being produced. These models have enabled us to draw novel inferences about the mechanisms of evolution in spatially-constrained populations. For instance, the transmission of forces generated by cellular growth couple the evolutionary fate of nearby cells, delaying or even inhibiting the purging of small deleterious (slower growing) mutations from the population.
Biography: Carl Schreck earned his PhD from Yale University in 2012, focusing on model jammed and glassy materials. Currently, Carl is working as a postdoc with Prof Oskar Hallatschek at UC Berkeley, studying mechanical interactions and evolution in growing cellular populations.
Acknowledgments
Prof. Graham Fleming (Vice Chancellor for Research, UC Berkeley)
Prof. Eliot Quataert on behalf of The Theoretical Astrophysics Center and the Astronomy Department (UC Berkeley)
Prof. Philip S. Marcus on behalf of the Mechanical Engineering Department (UC Berkeley)
Prof. Michael Manga (Earth and Planetary Science, UC Berkeley)
Prof. Evan Variano (Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley)