Contact
mts321@uw.edu
Research Interests
Engineered multispecies microbial communities have the potential to expand the functional capabilities of engineered microbes in medicine and bioproduction beyond what a single engineered strain can achieve. A key challenge is achieving ecological stability, and one promising approach is to draw from natural systems, where microbes often exhibit costly obligate mutualism—interactions characterized by interdependence and active cooperation. Here, we use a multiscale agent-based model, SEED, to investigate the eco-evolutionary processes underlying the emergence of these stable partnerships. We specifically examine how environmental factors, such as spatial structure and resource influx, can be modulated to promote trajectories toward obligate mutualism.