Related papers: Shape mode analysis exposes movement patterns in b…
We investigate numerically, by a hybrid lattice Boltzmann method, the morphology and the dynamics of an emulsion made of a polar active gel, contractile or extensile, and an isotropic passive fluid. We focus on the case of a highly…
Single flagellated bacteria are ubiquitous in nature. They exhibit various swimming modes using their flagella to explore complex surroundings such as soil and porous polymer networks. Some single-flagellated bacteria swim with two distinct…
We present a simplified theory for semiflexible flagella under the action of a traveling-wave perturbation that emulates the organized active forces generated by molecular motors, capable of inducing beating patterns to the filament. By…
Biological cells are able to generate intricate structures and respond to external stimuli, sculpting their membrane from within. Simplified biomimetic systems can aid in understanding the principles which govern these shape changes and…
Tendrils coil their shape to anchor the plant to supporting structures, allowing vertical growth toward light. Although climbing plants have been studied for a long time, extracting information regarding the relationship between the…
This paper focuses on studying a model for molecular motors responsible for the bending of the axoneme in the flagella of microorganisms. The model is a coupled system of partial differential equations inspired by J\"ulicher et al. or…
Characteristic modes of a spherical shell are found analytically as spherical harmonics normalized to radiate unitary power and to fulfill specific boundary conditions. The presented closed-form formulas lead to a proposal of precise…
Consider a deformable body immersed in an incompressible fluid that is randomly stirred. Sticking to physical situations in which the body departs only slightly from its spherical shape, we investigate the deformations of the body. The…
Living creatures exhibit a remarkable diversity of locomotion mechanisms, evolving structures specialised for interacting with their environment. In the vast majority of cases, locomotor behaviours such as flying, crawling, and running, are…
Dynamical systems in the life sciences are often composed of complex mixtures of overlapping behavioral regimes. Cellular subpopulations may shift from cycling to equilibrium dynamics or branch towards different developmental fates. The…
The present habilitation thesis in theoretical biological physics addresses two central dynamical processes in cells and organisms: (i) active motility and motility control and (ii) self-organized pattern formation. The unifying theme is…
A detailed understanding of foot morphology can enable the design of more comfortable and better fitting footwear. However, foot morphology varies widely within the population, and changes dynamically during the loading of stance phase.…
Migratory and tissue resident cells exhibit highly branched morphologies to perform their function and to adapt to the microenvironment. Immune cells, for example, display transient branched shapes while exploring the surrounding tissues.…
Space-saving design is a requirement that is encountered in biological systems and the development of modern technological devices alike. Many living organisms dynamically pack their polymer chains, filaments or membranes inside of…
Animal behavior is often quantified through subjective, incomplete variables that may mask essential dynamics. Here, we develop a behavioral state space in which the full instantaneous state is smoothly unfolded as a combination of…
We use topological data analysis and machine learning to study a seminal model of collective motion in biology [D'Orsogna et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 (2006)]. This model describes agents interacting nonlinearly via attractive-repulsive…
Many biological microorganisms and artificial microswimmers react to external cues of environmental gradients by changing their swimming directions. We study here the behavior of eukarytic flagellated microswimmers in linear viscosity…
Embryogenesis is a multiscale process during which developmental symmetry breaking transitions give rise to complex multicellular organisms. Recent advances in high-resolution live-cell microscopy provide unprecedented insights into the…
In this paper, dynamical systems theory and bifurcation theory are applied to investi- gate the rich dynamical behaviours observed in three simple disease models. The 2- and 3-dimensional models we investigate have arisen in previous…
Many bacteria use rotating helical flagellar filaments to swim. The filaments undergo polymorphic transformations in which the helical pitch and radius change abruptly. These transformations arise in response to mechanical loading, changes…