The King Lecture 2025/26 – Professor Bonnie Bassler
We are delighted to welcome Professor Bonnie Bassler as our speaker for the 2025/26 King Lecture, on Friday, 17 October 2025, from 17:30 in the Robinson Auditorium.
About the lecture – ‘Tiny Conspiracies: How Bacteria Talk to Each Other’
Bacteria are tiny ancient organisms. Harmful bacteria have the capacity to kill humans, animals, and plants, while beneficial bacteria play vital roles in keeping humans, animals, and plants alive. How do bacteria do it? They are so small, yet they carry out such big jobs. The answer is that bacteria work in groups: They communicate, count their numbers, and act as collectives. Bacteria “talk” to one another using chemical molecules that they release into the environment. These molecules travel from cell to cell, and the bacteria have receptors on their surfaces that allow them to detect and respond to the build up of the molecules. This process of cell-to-cell communication in bacteria is called “Quorum Sensing” and it allows bacteria to synchronize behavior on a population-wide scale. Bacterial behaviors controlled by quorum sensing are ones that are unproductive when undertaken by an individual bacterium acting alone but become effective when undertaken in unison by the group. For example, quorum sensing controls virulence, biofilm formation, and the exchange of DNA. Current biomedical research is focused on development of therapies to interfere with quorum sensing. Such therapies could be used to combat bacterial pathogens of global importance.
Tickets are now available and can be reserved here (for in-person attendance), and here (for Zoom attendance only). We are expecting a full audience for this exciting event, and there are limited spots available. Please book ASAP to ensure that you will be able to attend!
*If you have already received and RSVP’d to the event invitation, there is no need to reserve an Eventbrite ticket.
If you have any queries about the event or your registration, please contact Hilal, our College Events and Fellowship Manager, at college.administrator@clarehall.cam.ac.uk.