Evolving Microbes: Antibiotic Resistance, Virulence, and Public Health [F-19-20]

Microbes make up most of the diversity of living things on earth and interact with humans in a range of ways from beneficial to deadly. Some microbes have the potential to quickly shift from being innocuous to deadly - becoming resistant to antibiotics or increasingly virulent - through rapid evolutionary changes. In this course, we will cover the processes by which microbes evolve, drawing from specific examples of microbes that have evolved in dangerous ways (e.g. influenza, drug-resistant tuberculosis). We will discuss various approaches that scientists are taking to try to understand, predict, and even impede these critical evolutionary changes, and how this research is starting to be applied to healthcare practices.

Susan Bailey is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Clarkson University, specializing in evolutionary biology and bioinformatics. She uses lab experiments with microbes and statistical comparisons of DNA sequences to explore questions about how evolution has shaped the diversity of life we see in the world around us.

Cap: 50