Chemical and Biological Remediation: Cellular Automata Studies

of Bacteria Under Stress

Hugh M. Cartwright and Lisa Yiasoumis

Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory,

Oxford University, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QZ, England.

ABSTRACT

An understanding of the way in which bacteria survive and grow is important in many fields, from medical diagnostics to bioremediation. We illustrate in this talk how the development of bacterial colonies can be modeled using Cellular Automata. With suitable selection of rules, and the inclusion of diffusion effects, good agreement between predicted and experimental growth patterns is obtained.

Key words: Bacterial growth, Cellular automata, Artificial intelligence.

The figures below are taken from a talk given in Orlando, Florida, at the 5th World Multiconference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (SCI 2001) in July, 2001. They show how the pattern of bacterial growth can be affected by varying levels of nutrient and pollutant.

For further details contact Hugh.Cartwright@chem.ox.ac.uk

Last updated August 25, 2002.