Dynamics and Control of Complex, Networked Communities: Scaling From Microbes to Metazoans
Abstract
Complex networked communities emerge from nonlinear feedbacks between heterogeneous organisms in fluctuating environments. These communities exhibit seemingly universal interaction networks including hierarchical modules and nested components that transcend taxonomic diversity and organismal scale. Network structure is believed to strongly impact community resilience and stability. Yet, in practice, predicting the link between network structure and dynamics remains tenuous. As a result, networked communities can undergo unexpected changes, resulting in local extinction and loss of system-wide function. These transitions point to shortcomings in existing theory and raise critical challenges for research. This project aims to understand and influence networks of interacting viruses and microbes. In doing so, researchers will combine theory, computation, and experimental control of synthetic microbial communities, via three interwoven thrusts: (i) Dynamical foundations of virus-microbe networked communities; (ii) Theories of influence and control of complex networked communities; (iii) Iterative model-experiment integration for (viral-based) control of microbial communities. In doing so, the project will train 1 doctoral student and 1 postdoctoral scientist annually, enable undergraduate research, while developing new theories, reproducible software, and tractable experimental model systems. Altogether, this project will increase the DoD capacity to understand, influence, and control networked communities directly related to human health and resilience.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 24, 2019
- Source ID
- W911NF1910384
Entities
People
- Joshua Weitz
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Georgia Tech Research Corporation
- United States Army