Title: How Antibiotic Spectrum Influences Resistance Evolution

Speaker: Magnus Aspenberg, Centre for Mathematical Science, LTH

Abstract: In this talk I will outline some recent work together with E. A. Martens and K. Wollein Waldetoft, on the evolution of resistance in large microbal communitites. It is an important question in clinical treatment with antibiotics whether one should use broad or narrow spectrum of the antibiotics, i.e., if the antibiotics should target many (broad spectrum) or few (narrow spectrum) bacteria. Since all the bacteria interact in a complex manner with each other, it is not clear what the outcome is on a specific resistant bacteria, under the presence of antibiotics. We want to build a mathematical model for the evolution of resistance in communities of bacteria, based on the generalised Lotka-Volterra equations. Given the interactions between bacteria, we can conclude which bacteria should be targeted by antibiotics in order to minimize resistance growth.

Feel free to bring your own lunch.