Sanjeeda Shutrishna and Dr. Jeff Ford
Over the summer Dr. Jeff Ford and Sanjeeda Shutrishna are working on a project to study the evolution of altruistic suicide in E. coli bacteria. The bacteria employ a strategy where, when the colony encounters a pathogen, some bacteria will self-destruct before the pathogen can spread. Dr. Ford and Shutrishna are attempting to use network theory to determine the percentage of cells in a bacterial colony that need to exhibit this trait in order for the trait to be protective of the colony as a whole.”
In addition to their mathematics work they also spent some time cooking. They provided the Gustavus summer research students with homemade Bangladeshi food.
This research opportunity was made possible through the First Year Research Experience Program.