SynBERC:Seminar series/Remy Chait

Antibacterial drug combinations and evolution of drug resistance
Remy Chait
April 24, 2007
12-1pm
68-181, MIT

The rapid evolution of bacterial drug resistance and the alarming slowdown in development of new antibiotics is spurring attention towards multi-drug treatments. But how do such treatments affect the rate of evolution of drug resistance? I will present a simple model and direct experimental measurements showing that non-additive interactions between the drugs can profoundly alter the fitness landscape, leading to surprising and counterintuitive outcomes.