1- Computational phase-field modeling of 3D cell motility

Motility, the remarkable ability to move spontaneously via consumption of energy delivered by the internal metabolism, is a fascinating feature of living systems. Cell migration and motility is an active research topic in biology, and it has fascinated physicists, materials scientists, and applied mathematicians. The fundamental question here is to understand how local interactions among individual components lead to the observed collective behavior and the formation of highly organized entities.

2- Dynamics of bacteria in anisotropic and non-Newtonian fluids  

Bacteria are the most abundant organisms on Earth and they significantly influence carbon cycling and sequestration, decomposition of biomass, and transformation of contaminants in the environment. They form human microbiota and are also the cause of many infectious diseases. Many bacteria utilize self-generated motility to populate their niche; on surfaces and aqueous suspensions these bacteria move with complexity and organization that is only partially understood. In particular, it is not clear how groups of bacteria interpret environ- mental cues and coordinate their collective movement to their advantage. Characterization of these microbial actions will be useful in describing cellular responses to chemical and physical stimuli, interactions between cells, and in development of predictive computational tools for studying bacterial movement in biological fluids. Experimental and theoretical studies of the motion of a single bacterium is a necessary building block for understanding collective motion.

3- Flow manipulation of synthetic swimmers and the design of active ink for 3D printing

Active materials consume energy from the environment and alter the properties of the surrounding. They constitute a novel class of materials with striking properties and promising applications. Understanding such materials requires development of fundamental theoretical and experimental insights. This research is focused on the design of new material for 3D printing termed “active ink”. Active ink contains a small fraction of functionalized self-propelled rod-like particles. Our previous modeling and experimental studies have demonstrated that the presence of even a small fraction of active self-propelled particles in a fluid results in a drastic reduction of viscosity and a dramatic increase of self-diffusivity in response to applied shear flow.