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SUMMARY:MechE Colloquium: Active biological flows
DTSTART:20220322T120000
DTEND:20220322T130000
DTSTAMP:20260407T103304Z
UID:4d61814023def6997a5e72a14976c9f918ea27e209e4aff8874b1682
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Eric Lauga\, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theor
 etical Physics\, University of Cambridge\nFace masks are recommended for i
 n-person attendance in MED 0 1418.\n\nAbstract: Biology is dominated by tr
 ansport problems involving fluid flows\, from the diffusion of nutrients 
 and locomotion to flows around plants and the circulatory system of animal
 s. The biological realm has therefore long been a source of inspiration f
 or fluid mechanicians. In this talk\, I will discuss three instances of b
 iological flows arising on small scales\, and our theoretical efforts to 
 understand them. \n\nFirst I will present our work modelling active flows
  in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The ER is a cellular organelle taking
  the form of a network of fluid-filled tubules and sheets that performs e
 ssential cellular functions such as protein synthesis and transport. Singl
 e particle tracking in ER networks has revealed active transport\, signif
 icantly enhanced relative to pure diffusion. In this work\, we build a mo
 del to test a recent hypothesis for the origin of this active flow quanti
 tatively. \n\nNext\, I will discuss our work on artificial cytoplasmic st
 reaming. Recent experiments in cell biology have generate artificially in
 duced intracellular flows using focused light localised in a small region
  of the cell to create a thermo-viscous flow globally inside the cell. I w
 ill present a theoretical model of the fluid flow induced by the focused 
 light which shows excellent agreement with experimental results. \n\nFin
 ally I will discuss active flows that are generated in suspensions of swim
 ming microorganisms. Recent experiment have shown that magnetotactic bact
 eria in spherical confinement self-organise in a global vortex provided t
 hat their concentration (or the external magnetic field) is large enough.
  We build a theoretical model of this phenomenon\, showing in particular 
 the relationship between the local flows generated by the swimmers and th
 eir ability to induce long-range self-organisation. \n\nBiography: Eric L
 auga is Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Cambridge an
 d a Fellow of Trinity College\, Cambridge. He graduated from Ecole Polyte
 chnique (France) in 1998 and the Corps des Mines Program from Ecole des M
 ines de Paris in 2001. After receiving an M.S. in Fluid Mechanics from Uni
 versity of Paris Pierre et Marie Curie (France) in 2001\, he earned his P
 h.D. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University in 2005 where he work
 ed in theoretical modeling of flow phenomena at the micron scale. Prior to
  joining Cambridge\, he was on the faculty at MIT (Mathematics) and at th
 e University of California\, San Diego (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineer
 ing). He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER award (2008) and of three award
 s from the American Physical Society: the Andreas Acrivos Dissertation Awa
 rd in Fluid Dynamics (2006)\, the François Frenkiel Award for Fluid Mech
 anics (2015) and the Early Career Award for Soft Matter Research (2018). 
 He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. His research interests i
 nclude theoretical approaches to model viscous flows\, in particular in a 
 biological context\, the dynamics of complex fluids and interdisciplinary
  problems in soft matter physics. He is currently co-Lead editor for the A
 PS journal Physical Review Fluids.
LOCATION:MED 0 1418 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==MED%200%201418 https://epf
 l.zoom.us/j/67275071152
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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