Related papers: Dynamic detection of a single bacterium: nonlinear…
Micro- and nanoscale objects with anisotropic shape are key components of a variety of biological systems and inert complex materials, and represent fundamental building blocks of novel self-assembly strategies. The time scale of their…
Centrifugation is a widespread laboratory technique used to separate mixtures into fractions characterized by a specific size, weight or density. We demonstrate that centrifugation can be also used to separate swimming cells having…
Isogenic Escherichia coli growing exponentially in a constant environment display large variation in growth-rates, division-sizes and generation-times. It is unclear how these seemingly random cell cycles can be reconciled with the precise…
We report on the electrically driven rotation of $2.4~\mu$m-radius, optically levitated dielectric microspheres. Electric fields are used to apply torques to a microsphere's permanent electric dipole moment, while angular displacement is…
The motion of submerged magnetic microspheres rolling at a glass-water interface has been studied using magnetic rotation and optical tweezers combined with bright-field microscopy particle tracking techniques. Individual microspheres of…
We present a thorough theoretical analysis of the magnetic torque on microfabricated elements with dimensions in the range of 100 to 500 {\mu}m and magneto-somes of magnetotactic bacteria of a few {\mu}m length. We derive simple equations…
Self-propelling bacteria are a dream of nano-technology. These unicellular organisms are not just capable of living and reproducing, but they can swim very efficiently, sense the environment and look for food, all packaged in a body…
Rapid identification of bacterial species is crucial in medicine and food hygiene. In order to achieve rapid and label-free identification of bacterial species at the single bacterium level, we propose and experimentally demonstrate an…
Motile bacteria are a wonder of nature's engineering: microscopic engines that transduce biochemical energy into the work they require to explore their environment. This added energy turns the surrounding fluid into a bath that departs from…
Hypothesis: Bacterial contamination of surfaces poses a major threat to public health. Designing effective antibacterial or self-cleaning surfaces requires understanding how bacteria-laden droplets interact with solid substrates and how…
Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection becomes one of the most serious risks to public health care today. However, discouragingly, the development of new antibiotics has been little progressed over the last decade. There is an urgent need…
To model the morphogenesis of rod-shaped bacterial micro-colony, several individual-based models have been proposed in the biophysical literature. When studying the shape of micro-colonies, most models present interaction forces such as…
Previously published experimental work by other authors has shown that certain motile marine bacteria are able to track free swimming algae by executing a zigzag path and steering toward the algae at each turn. Here, we propose that the…
In the present work we simulate the basic two-dimensional dynamics of swarming E. coli bacteria on the surface of a moderately soft agar plate. Individual bacteria are modelled by self-propelled ridged bodies (agents), which interact with…
During division it is of primary importance for a cell to correctly determine the site of cleavage. The bacterium Escherichia coli divides in the center, producing two daughter cells of equal size. Selection of the center as the correct…
The mechanical properties of cells play key roles in their physiology, function, physiological and pathological transformations. Micro-elastography has recently emerged as a promising tool to estimate cellular viscoelastic properties within…
Peritrichous bacteria such as Escherichia coli swim in viscous fluids by forming a helical bundle of flagellar filaments. The filaments are spatially distributed around the cell body to which they are connected via a flexible hook. To…
Microswimmers such as E. Coli bacteria accumulate and exhibit an intriguing dynamics near walls, governed by hydrodynamic and steric interactions. Insight into the underlying mechanisms and predominant interactions demand a detailed…
E.coli serves as prototype for the study of peritrichous enteric bacteria that perform runs and tumbles alternately. Bacteria run forward as a result of the counterclockwise (CCW) rotation of their flagella bundle and perform tumbles when…
Experiments were performed to test the effect of an electric field on growing E-coli cultures. Cell growing dishes were fitted with platinum wires to create a potential drop across the dish. Water diluted E-coli cultures were brushed across…