Alasdair Hastewell
Papers
2
Total Citations
27
H-Index
2
About
Alasdair Hastewell is a rising interdisciplinary researcher whose work bridges biophysics, microbiology, and complex systems. His primary research areas include microbial community development, spatiotemporal biology, and the physics of living systems—particularly how collective behaviors emerge from individual interactions. Hastewell’s most notable contribution is his landmark 2023 study, “Simultaneous spatiotemporal transcriptomics and microscopy of Bacillus subtilis swarm development reveal cooperation across generations,” which has already garnered 23 citations. This work pioneered a novel approach to simultaneously measure gene expression and physical dynamics in bacterial swarms, revealing how cooperative behaviors propagate across generations to shape community architecture—a fundamental insight with implications for biofilm control and microbiome engineering. In another innovative 2023 paper, Hastewell applied quantum mechanical concepts like Schrödinger dynamics and Berry phases to model undulatory locomotion, demonstrating how spectral mode analysis can characterize living systems’ behavioral dynamics. This creative cross-pollination of physics and biology exemplifies his distinctive approach. Though early in his career, Hastewell’s work is already recognized for its methodological novelty and its potential to transform our understanding of how biological and physical processes jointly determine emergent spatial structures in microbial communities.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Schrödinger Dynamics and Berry Phase of Undulatory Locomotion4 citations · 2023