Rita Invernizzi is a PhD student enrolled in the Data Science for Medicine program at Humanitas University, working within the Microbial Ecology Lab.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in physics in 2020, from University of Insubria, she moved to University of Milan for her master’s degree in physics, focusing on Biophysics, Statistical and Computational Physics. She obtained her master’s degree in 2023. During her Master, she developed an interest in complex living systems and decided to focus her PhD studies on the interplay between Physics and Microbiology.

Her main research project revolves around the problem of bacteria living in environments where multiple nutrients are available. The aim of the project is to understand quantitatively the role of the spatial dimension in instances where bacteria organize themselves in complex structures and encounter different carbon sources. The combination of the diffusive processes and the drifting movements of the colony, due to the bacterial growth, shapes the concentration gradients of nutrients. In this context, the bacteria and the environment constitute a unique system in which the diffusion of nutrients and the growth of the bacteria deeply influence one another. Rita aims to shed light on this complex interplay, combining a quantitative approach, based on a mathematical model, with an understanding of bacterial physiology. The final goal is to test the predictive power of the model with experimental data but also to build a more comprehensive theoretical approach.