Growth bistability in small bacterial populations exposed to antibiotics

With the development of microfluidics, it has now become possible to assess the susceptibility of bacteria to antibiotics at the single-cell level instead of relying on population measurements. Such studies are particularly relevant when the growth of a bacterial population in the presence of antibiotics is heterogeneous. Here, we build a model to describe such a case and apply it to experimental measurements on a small population of E. coli exposed to ciprofloxacin, a drug which is well-known for triggering a bistable response.