Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the University has instruction to cancel all in-person events through the Spring semester to adhere to city and state orders limiting public gatherings. Events still running must now take place Online— listed events will include a link in which one may access the Online webspace:

To view Dr. Komarova’s talk, enter her Online chatroom via Microsoft Teams— it will open at 3:00pm on Friday, April 23rd, 2021.

Mathematics of Evolution: mutations, selection, and random environments

Dr. Natalia Komarova
Chancellor’s Professor of Mathematics
University of California Irvine

“Evolutionary dynamics permeates life and life-like systems. Mathematical methods can be used to study evolutionary processes, such as selection, mutation, and drift, and to make sense of many phenomena in life sciences. I will present two very general types of evolutionary patterns, loss-of-function and gain-of-function mutations, and discuss scenarios of population dynamics — including stochastic tunneling and calculating the rate of evolution. I will also talk about evolution in random environments. The presence of temporal or spatial randomness significantly affects the competition dynamics in populations and gives rise to some counterintuitive observations. Applications include origins of cancer, passenger and driver mutations, and how aspirin might help prevent cancer.”

*Click to view the event flyer.