Related papers: Confinement enhances the diversity of microbial fl…
Many micro-swimmers propel themselves by rotating micro-cylindrical organelles such as flagella or cilia. These cylindrical organelles almost never live in free space, yet their motions in a confining geometry can be counter-intuitive. For…
Many biological fluids are composed of suspended polymers immersed in a viscous fluid. A prime example is mucus, where the polymers are also known to form a network. While the presence of this microstructure is linked with an overall…
The formation of (bio)molecular condensates via liquid-liquid phase separation in cells has received increasing attention, as these coacervates play important functional and regulatory roles within biological systems. However, the majority…
Microorganisms ofter move in confined, disordered environments, where hydrodynamic couplings can modify their transport behavior. Using extensive finite-element simulations, we investigate the dynamics of microswimmers -- modeled as…
The ocean is teeming with a myriad of mm-sized invertebrate planktonic larvae, which thrive in a viscous fluid environment. Many of them rely on ciliary beating to generate fluid flows for locomotion and feeding. Their larval forms, local…
Cell motility in viscous fluids is ubiquitous and affects many biological processes, including reproduction, infection, and the marine life ecosystem. Here we review the biophysical and mechanical principles of locomotion at the small…
We have studied by Molecular Dynamics computer simulations the dynamics of water confined in ionic surfactants phases, ranging from well ordered lamellar structures to micelles at low and high water loading, respectively. We have analysed…
Although density functional theory provides reliable predictions for the static properties of simple fluids under confinement, a theory of comparative accuracy for the transport coefficients has yet to emerge. Nonetheless, there is evidence…
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…
Living objects are able to consume chemical energy and process information independently from others. However, living objects can coordinate to form ordered groups such as schools of fish. This work considers these complex groups as living…
Active fluid droplets are a class of soft materials exhibiting autonomous motion sustained by an energy supply. Such systems have been shown to capture motility regimes typical of biological cells and are ideal candidates as building-block…
The collective motion of microswimmers in suspensions induce patterns of vortices on scales that are much larger than the characteristic size of a microswimmer, attaining a state called bacterial turbulence. Hydrodynamic turbulence acts on…
We numerically investigate the hydrodynamics and membrane dynamics of multicomponent vesicles in two strongly confined geometries. This serves as a simplified model for red blood cells undergoing large deformations while traversing narrow…
We study the effects of confinement between two parallel walls on a two dimensional fluid with competing interactions which lead to the formation of particle micro-domains at the thermodynamic equilibrium (microphases or microseparation).…
We study how confinement transforms the chaotic dynamics of bulk microtubule-based active nematics into regular spatiotemporal patterns. For weak confinements, multiple continuously nucleating and annihilating topological defects…
Many active biological particles, such as swimming microorganisms or motor-proteins, do work on their environment by going though a periodic sequence of shapes. Interactions between particles can lead to the phase-synchronization of their…
We run numerical simulations of strongly confined suspensions of model spherical swimmers called "squirmers". Because of the confinement, the Stokeslet dipoles generated by the particles are quickly screened and the far-field flow is…
Some microorganisms, such as spermatozoa, synchronize their flagella when swimming in close proximity. Using a simplified model (two infinite, parallel, two-dimensional waving sheets), we show that phase-locking arises from hydrodynamics…
Soft matters whose constituents are deformable are ubiquitous in nature especially in biological systems-including cells and their organelles-as well as in foams and emulsions. The capacity for deformation in these soft materials gives rise…
Using molecular dynamics simulations we study the dynamics of a water-like TIP5P model of water in hydrophilic and hydrophobic confinement. We find that in case of extreme nanocofinement such that there is only one molecular layer of water…