Empirical evolution of multicellularity

The experimental evolution of multicellularity is an actively developing area of research. Due to the short generation times of microscopic species, they are capable to evolve fascinating adaptations within a span of a few months. In this research direction, I work in collaboration with experimentalists and develop models allowing a deeper understanding of empirical findings. This can be either a toy model, providing a transparent interpretation of observed phenomena, or a more typical data fitting, allowing to distinguish between hypotheses.

Papers:

Impact of propagule mixing on the evolution of multicellularity: Meta-population structure and the evolutionary transition to multicellularity. Rose, C.J., Hammerschmidt, K., Pichugin, Y., and Rainey, P.B. Ecology Letters, 2020. (link)

Environmentally mediated multicellular life cycle: An environmentally induced multicellular life cycle of a unicellular cyanobacterium Tang, S., Pichugin, Y., and Hammerschmidt, K. Current Biology, 2023. (link)