Problem of the Month Lecture Series

This year, Sigma's Problem of the Month is excited to announce that it will host a series of lectures: Problem of the Month Lecture Series.

How to Survive Hunger? Sporulation is the Bacterial Answer.

by Yaroslava Polosina 
Bacteria same as multicellular organisms like us often meets unpleasant or even deadly conditions in their life. Dryness, cold, heat, poison, and most often the absence of nutrition can easily kill the bacterial population. To survive severe conditions bacteria developed different approaches, and the main and most efficient of them is sporulation. We find out what are the spores, how bacteria produce them, and what is their role in the maintenance of the bacteria population.

About the speaker: Yaroslava Polosina received her PhD in molecular biology from the Institute of Protein Research of Russian Academy of Sciences, studying peculiarities of proteins from extremophilic organisms. She did research in DNA repair and DNA replication areas and taught students at Stony Brook University, NY; University of Victoria, BC; Simon Fraser University, BC; and University of Washington, WA. She loves mountclimbing, kayaking, hiking, travelling, photography and many other ways of exploring the world.