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SUMMARY:ENAC Seminar Series by Dr E. Secchi
DTSTART:20201113T133000
DTEND:20201113T141500
DTSTAMP:20260407T091716Z
UID:c833fa13da23a9f4bfb5363f99c8f3dce8b5f93b40246f6fdc593a98
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr Eleonora Secchi\n13:30 – 14:15 – Dr Eleonora Secchi\nSe
 nior Assistant - Principal Investigator at ETH Zürich\n\nThe effect of fl
 uid flow on motile bacteria controls bacterial transport and initial surfa
 ce colonization\n\nThe vast majority of microbes are exposed to fluid flow
 \, whether in natural environments\, in the human body\, or in artificial 
 systems. Fluid flow plays an important role in a broad variety of microbia
 l processes\, including nutrient uptake and fertilization\, as well as in 
 many environmental processes and industrial applications\, ranging from wa
 stewater treatment to the production of biofuels. However\, despite the pe
 rvasive occurrence and implications of flow\, its influence on the transpo
 rt and attachment of bacteria to surfaces remains poorly investigated and 
 understood\, especially in complex geometries that best describe real syst
 ems. The aim of this presentation is showing the influence of flow on bact
 erial transport and surface attachment in porous structures.\nTo examine s
 urface colonization in model porous media\, we investigated the effect of 
 laminar flow on motile bacterial suspension around a single pillar in a mi
 crofluidics channel\, mimicking a single pore of a porous medium. Using mi
 crofluidics experiments and a mathematical model\, we demonstrate that loc
 al flow controls bacterial distribution and concentration in bulk\, and ul
 timately the location of bacterial landing spots on surfaces. The fundamen
 tal physical nature of this interaction makes this is a general phenomenon
 : our model can be used to identify sites of preferential colonization on 
 natural and artificial surfaces. Colonization drives the initial developme
 nt of biofilms and lays the foundations for bioclogging of porous structur
 es.\n\n\nShort bio:\nEleonora Secchi is the Principal Investigator of the 
 bioMatter Microfluidics Unit (bioM2)\, funded in 2018 by an SNSF PRIMA Gra
 nt in the Institute of Environmental Engineering at ETH Zurich. The focus 
 of her research is understanding the physical mechanisms influencing bacte
 rial surface colonization and biofilm formation in fluids and their implic
 ations in environmental processes. Her experimental approach relies on an 
 innovative and targeted combination of experimental techniques\, mainly ba
 sed on microfluidics and advanced optical visualization techniques. Before
  focusing her research on biological systems\, Dr. Secchi acquired extensi
 ve experience in fluid dynamics and optical visualization techniques worki
 ng on a variety of soft matter systems. During her first postdoctoral fell
 owship at Ecole Normale Superiore de Paris (Paris\, France)\, she develope
 d an optical flow measurement technique to quantify the water flow emergin
 g from carbon nanotubes - with a diameter smaller than 100nm- and experime
 ntally measured for the first time the radius dependence of the slip lengt
 h in carbon nanotubes. Currently\, she is Review Editor for the journal Fr
 ontiers in Physics and Biophysics and she is in the Program Committee of I
 nterPore and AGU conferences\, for the session on biogeochemical processes
  and biofilms in porous media.\n 
LOCATION:Zoom https://epfl.zoom.us/j/88352568407
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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