Author Archives: joaobxavier

Here’s the 2015 lab MUG designed by Silja Heilmann. Great for warm coffee or tea on a cloudy New York Sunday.

Mathematical biology has always been obsessed with shapes, specially because many that look so complicated can actually be created with simple rules. Take the Turing patterns – these are regular shapes that obey the same type of rules but can make spots, stripes, … Continue reading →

Before the year ends I have to hurry and upload the pictures for our official 2014 X-Lab MUG.

Colonization resistance is the ability of the commensal microbiota to prevent invasion by entheric pathogens. This ability can be compromised when patients take antibiotics – a fact that was known for many antibiotics. However, the mechanisms by which colonization resistance … Continue reading →

Originally a meeting of Bacillus researchers located in the New York area, the NY/BIG has expanded to include other bacteria as well. This one day symposium also has speakers from beyond the NY area. Find more about it: http://biology.as.nyu.edu/object/nybig_2014.html

The primary function of intestinal microbiota seems to be to provide genes for metabolic reactions that are not available in the host’s genome. This enables us to process nutrients that would otherwise be unavailable to us. Another, perhaps secondary, function is to … Continue reading →

Recent advances in DNA sequencing and metagenomics are opening a window into the human microbiome, and revealing novel associations between microbes, health and disease. But most microbiome studies are cross-sectional and lack a mechanistic understanding of this ecosystem. We developed … Continue reading →

Cancer cells have dramatic metabolic alterations that can give growth advantages but also cause changes in the extracellular environment, i.e. the tumor microenvironment. We used a multidisciplinary combination of computational and experimental methods to show that lactic acid accumulation can … Continue reading →

Darwin’s theory of natural selection relies on the selfish survival of the fittest. Still, there are numerous examples of adaptive cooperative traits in nature. How can selection favor individuals that carry out costly actions for the benefit of others? This … Continue reading →