Bacterial Genetics and Evolution Journal Club | Luria & Delbrück (1943)

🧑‍🔬 Speakers: Professor Wenying Shou & Dr Kabir Husain
📅 Date: 24 November 2026
⏰ Time: 18:00-19:00
📍 Location: Room W3.05, IOE Bedford Way (20)
📑 Paper: Luria & Delbrück (1943), Mutations of Bacteria from Virus Sensitivity to Virus Resistance

Do bacteria become resistant because a virus forces them to adapt or do resistant mutations arise randomly before the virus ever appears?

Luria and Delbrück answered this question with one of the classic experiments in genetics: rather than directly observing mutation, they realised that the variation between independent bacterial cultures could distinguish two competing explanations. Their fluctuation test provided powerful evidence that resistance mutations arise spontaneously before selection.

We’ll discuss the paper with Professor Wenying Shou, who has described this paper as one of the most elegant papers she’s ever read, who studies microbial interaction and evolution through experiments and mathematical modelling, and Dr Kabir Husain, a UCL theoretical biophysicist working at the interface of physics, molecular biology and evolution.

Expect a session about elegant experimental design, mathematical reasoning and how surprisingly simple measurements can reveal biological processes that cannot be observed directly.

Themes: mutation · selection · bacterial genetics · experimental design · mathematical biology · history of genetics