Beyond evolution
In this first post of Emergent Properties, Dan and Rahul tackle perhaps the most fundamental question in biology - how do individuals and populations adapt to their environments? They explore the advantages and tradeoffs of evolution via genetic mutation and demonstrate how organisms can develop non-genetic mechanisms to develop adaptation “shortcuts”. With examples ranging from bacterial nutrient sensing to immune receptor diversity to cancer, they synthesize a framework through which to understand the many different modes of biological adaptation.
Emergent properties
Welcome to Emergent Properties! We are a small group of friends and MD-PhD program classmates who love having nerdy, cross-disciplinary discussions that straddle the scientific and clinical worlds. In this opening blog post, we hope to convey our motivations and passion for this project, and types of topics and articles you can expect to see from us.