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In March 2021, assistant professor of biological sciences Allison Lopatkin published a paper titled "Conjugation Dynamics Depend on Both the Plasmid Acquisition Cost and the Fitness Cost" in the scientific journal Molecular Systems Biology. Co-authored by Lopatkin, the paper provides an in-depth study on the effects of short-term factors, such as plasmid fitness and plasmid acquisition costs, on the long-term dynamics of plasmid conjugation, an important biological mechanism responsible for antibiotic resistance.