The Search for Fundamental Rules Underlying How Microbiomes Are Constructed
- Speaker
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C. Brandon Ogbunu, Ph.D.Assistant Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University
External Professor, Santa Fe Institute
MLK Jr Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Presidential Lectures are a series of free public colloquia spotlighting groundbreaking research across four themes: neuroscience and autism science, physics, biology, and mathematics and computer science. These curated, high-level scientific talks feature leading scientists and mathematicians and are designed to foster discussion and drive discovery within the New York City research community. We invite those interested in these topics to join us for this weekly lecture series.
An appreciation of the size and scope of microbiomes creates new curiosities: How do these cells interact in generating complex functions that affect their host organisms?
Understanding the rules that govern how microbial communities are constructed and how they interact is the key to unlocking the potential of the microbiome, from clinical diagnostics to bioengineering.
In this talk, C. Brandon Ogbunu will explore the possible existence of fundamental rules governing how the microbes that construct larger communities interact. To accomplish this, he will discuss research across several fields — including molecular microbiology, population genetics, ecology and applied mathematics — all toward understanding the mystery and caprice of the microbiome, one of the most complex biological systems in the known universe.
About the Speaker
Ogbunu is an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University, an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute and currently the MLK Jr. Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a computational biologist whose research investigates complex problems in epidemiology, biomedicine, genetics and evolution.