Delvigne Lab
Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech · University of Liège
Engineering microbial population dynamics and collective function
We study how isogenic cell populations adapt and diversify, using automated flow cytometry, single-cell microfluidics and custom cell–machine interfaces to read and steer population dynamics in real time.
The central idea
The unifying intellectual commitment is that structured population diversity is not a complication to be averaged away but a resource to be designed, monitored, and exploited as the primary engineering variable in next-generation bioprocesses or for advanced biocomputing and biosensing.
Fig. 1 – population diversification dynamics resolved based on automated flow cytometry over a continuous cultivation.
Research programme
Four directionsCollective behaviour and emergence
of subpopulations
Subpopulation fixation and switching arise from coupled circuit timing, resource allocation, and environment, and their interactions generate population-level collective behaviours like bistability and hysteresis.
Read moreSubpopulation networks for biological inference and biocomputing
Modelling populations as networks of interacting subpopulations drastically reduces dimensionality, enabling real-time inference from flow cytometry and framing these subpopulation networks as reservoir-computing architectures.
Read moreBioprocess digitalisation and control
The Segregostat platform uses subpopulation structure as an early-warning and feedback signal to shift bioprocess control from reactive to anticipatory, now extended to networked bioreactors for added robustness.
Read moreControl of synthetic communities
In synthetic communities, metabolic niche engineering sustains coexistence between interacting strains, requiring subpopulation-resolved monitoring to prevent metabolic reversion under competitive stress.
Read moreSelected publications
All publications →The team
16 researchers & technicians
