Evolutionary Dynamics and Its Applications

Prof. Emmanuel Tannenbaum
Ben Gurion University

In this talk, I will provide an overview of evolutionary dynamics, a subfield of mathematical biology and biophysics that deals with developing mathematical models describing evolutionary processes in various biological systems.  I will review the applications that this field has to evolutionary processes ranging from the molecular to ecological scales, and to its potential uses for understanding a variety of problems such as the emergence of cancer, aging, the evolution of antibiotic drug resistance in bacteria, the immune system, pathway formation in the brain, and perhaps even the structure of highly complex societies.  I will also discuss some of my recent contributions to the field, with an emphasis on Horizontal Gene Transfer and the evolution and maintenance of sex in unicellular organisms.