Last night, Maggie Fink gave a talk about the secret social life of bacteria at the downtown public library as part of an outreach lecture series "Our Universe Revealed" by the University of Notre Dame and IU South Bend. Fink is the perfect candidate for this joint effort because she is a graduate of IU South Bend (biochemistry major) and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Notre Dame where she is supported by the prestigious National Science Foundation Fellowship. Bacteria are infamous as harmful germs, but they are also responsible for symbiotic relationships in the digestive system. Furthermore, scientists have been farming bacteria for decades to produce particular proteins like insulin to treat diabetes. But in this talk, Fink described how bacteria communicate with each other and sometimes work in cooperation to give us a "new appreciation for the invisible hidden dramas unfolding all around us." A video recording of her talk is available at the link below, which also archives past talks.
