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Current projects on this topic focus on modeling sub-cellular spatial structure. I'm interested quantitatively evaluating the impacts of this structure on precision, also using ideas from stochastic thermodynamics. On the biological side, I'm interested in individual manifestations of such spatial structure, also in the context of liquid-liquid phase separation.
Spatial structure inside cells is crucial for their functioning. This structure can be created using membranes; they serve as dividers and ensure that only specific molecules can be involved in certain processes, for example for replication in the nucleus or in double-membraned vesicles. Recent work on liquid-liquid phase separation has emphasized that structure can also occur without such dividers, for example in membrane-less organelles, such as stress-granules. We are interested in how the presence of spatial structure and its development influences the thermodynamics and the noise both in the development of this structure and its function.
Past work focused on spatial structure in microbial model populations; similarly to protein networks, also different types of microbes can be modeled with specific interaction topologies. At the time, we were interested in how the formation of local clusters could lead to much longer fixation times (when the system has reached its steady state), and perhaps even alter the steady state. The three papers we published on the topic focused on a specific game-theoretic interaction topology, called the prisoner's dilemma, and focused on the interplay between spatial structure and delays in the game-theoretic update. Currently, we are interested in spatial clusters using different interaction topologies for chemical networks and molecules.
Relevant Publications:
M. Bauer and E. Frey, Europhysics Letters 122 (6), 68002 (2018).
M. Bauer and E. Frey, Physical Review E 97 (4), 042307 (2018).
M. Bauer and E. Frey, Physical Review Letters 121 (26), 268101 (2018).
Organisms often adapt to new environments with a delay. We showed that in spatially extended systems, this delay can change the survival of populations: when two species interact via a public good, produced by one species at the cost of a lower fitness, this species dies out. Delays in adapting fitness can lead to coexistence of both species. Our work thus provided an intuitive understanding of delay as a contributor to diversity in ecological systems, and stressed the importance of experiments where space is mimicked.
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