Harvard Medical School
Kolter Lab

ETCETERA

Nick Lyons: Bacterial Multicellularity

Nick Lyons: Bacterial Multicellularity
Bacterial biofilms display many characteristics traditionally associated with complex multicellular organisms, including intercellular signaling, coordinated behavior, cellular differentiation, and programmed cell death. This last behavior, a form of apoptosis, represents an altruistic cooperative act that would be selected against in strictly unicellular organisms but is common in multicellular systems. My project seeks to use biofilm formation to increase our understanding of the transition to multicellularity, in particular its molecular nature, ecological consequences, and impact on evolution.