Statistical physics analysis of bacterial colonies

The cells in colonies of bacteria can be considered as particles moving and interacting with each other and their environment. Compare for example to the physics of atoms or molecules in a gas or liquid. Each particle is described by its position and momentum. Statistical physics and thermodynamics considers such systems in the limit of very large numbers of particles, and computes statistical (macroscopic) variables that describe the system. Control parameters are typically temperature, which creates thermal noise. We have developed CellModeller (www.cellmodeller.org) - python software that solves the equations of motion for >100000 bacillus cells. This project will work together with that described above (PIV) to derive and compute statistical measures that describe the physics of bacterial colony growth and gene expression using both simulation and experimental data.