What is it about?

We have created a way to model in the computer the growth of a specific type of bacterial colony. The method describes how the colony grows spatially, and also how its characteristic patterning develops, over time. The computer model can be simulated much faster than a real colony can grow over time.

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Why is it important?

This is the first time that the ways in which these bacterial colonies growth spatial patterns over time has been modelled and simulated in the computer. Different bacterial strains generate specific patterns, and this method can potentially be used to identify pathogenic strains of bacteria very fast and with little cost without time-consuming DNA analysis. This will ultimately benefit patients because doctors will be able to select the correct kind of antibiotics to treat an infection before it gets out of control.

Perspectives

I was very excited to be able to use my computational expertise in modelling biological systems to contribute to the success of this research.

Prof David Gilbert
Brunel University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Spatial-Temporal Modelling and Analysis of Bacterial Colonies with Phase Variable Genes, ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation, April 2015, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery),
DOI: 10.1145/2742546.
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Contributors

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