We are delighted to welcome Prof. Tapas Kumar Sengupta from Dept. of  Biological Sciences, IISER  Kolkata for an insightful talk on “Multicellular or Social Behaviours in Bacteria as survival strategies: Implications in Bioremediation and Therapeutics” on 14 December 2024, 11 am onwards at JIVAN – Centre for Research in Biological Sciences, Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan.

Speaker: Prof. Tapas Kumar Sengupta, Dept. of Biological Sciences, IISER Kolkata

Abstract

Although the bacteria are unicellular prokaryotes, they are evolved with multicellular or social behaviours as survival strategies. Swarming or collective movement and biofilm formations are two of the important multicellular behaviours observed in the bacterial world. Both swarming and biofilm formation are generally employed by the bacteria to cope with the harsh environmental conditions including human hosts in the case of pathogenic bacteria. The multicellular behaviours in bacteria are found to be regulated by quorum sensing network, a decentralized system which empowers the bacterial communities to cross-talk and to take collective decisions. The present talk will involve the general discussion on multicellular behaviours in bacteria and quorum sensing with specific examples including the past and ongoing research in our laboratory. The talk will also address the implications of multicellular behaviours in understanding bacterial survival and its applications in bioremediation and therapeutics.