Our research

This is an exciting time for researchers interested in the social behaviour of microbes. It is being increasingly realised that bacteria communicate and cooperate to perform a wide range of multicellular behaviours such as dispersal, foraging, biofilm formation, chemical warfare and quorum sensing. We are interested in how these behaviours evolve and are maintained in natural systems.

Specifically we are interested in:

1) The evolution of cooperation and conflict in pathogenic bacteria.
2) Transmission rate and the evolution of virulence.
3) The evolution of signalling in bacteria and applications to higher organisms.
4) Bacterial diversity in chronic infections and the implications for virulence,
  antibiotic susceptibility and patient treatment.
5) The evolution of antibiotic resistance.
6) Use of bacterial cheats to treat infection.

Main findings
We have discussed ways that social cheating can be exploited as a medical intervention strategy (Brown et al. 2009).
We have shown that QS is a cooperative social behaviour, which can be exploited by cheats in vitro (Diggle et al. 2007; Wilder et al. 2011) and in vivo (Rumbaugh et al. 2009) and that a potential solution to this problem is cooperation between relatives (kin selection) (Diggle et al. 2007).
We have explained why quorum sensing between bacterial cells may not always represent signaling, which is often assumed in the general literature (Diggle et al. 2007; Stacy et al. 2011).
We have comprehensively reviewed how social evolution theory applies to microbes (West et al. 2006; West et al. 2007; Diggle 2010).

Links
What is quorum sensing?
What is social evolution?
Latest quorum sensing research papers from around the world