Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 33: P5: Microswimmers, Active Liquids

CPP 33.6: Poster

Tuesday, March 17, 2015, 14:00–16:00, Poster C

Swimming Dynamics of C. reinhardtii in Confined Geometries — •Tanya Ostapenko, Christian Kreis, and Oliver Bäumchen — Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS), Am Fassberg 17, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a unicellular, biflagellated alga that has long been appreciated as a model organism in biology. Recently, their possibilities as a source of therapeutic proteins and renewable biofuels have attracted much interest. Previous research in the physics community to date has mainly focused on the propulsion mechanism of this microswimmer in bulk, as well as quasi-two-dimensional systems. Recently, the influence of interfaces on the dynamics has been recognized as an important factor. Additional studies showed that active swimmers affect the rheological (e.g. the effective viscosity) and transport properties of dense suspensions.

We report on the behavior of C. reinhardtii in two different, confined environments. First, we consider cells injected into a quasi-two-dimensional microfluidic chip, where we find that the geometric shape and dimensions in which the cells swim can affect their trajectories and wall interactions. Secondly, we investigate C. reinhardtii in an evaporating droplet, where the volume in which the cells may swim is time-dependent. We discuss possible explanations for any resulting pattern formations, as well as how the confined environment impacts the swimming dynamics.