Upcoming Quantitative Biology Seminar

[Statistical Physics]

QUANTITATIVE BIOLOGY SEMINAR
---------------------------------------


*TUESDAY, 8 JULY 2014  -   14:00 hrs*
*
Luigi Stasi Seminar Room*, first floor Leonardo building



*Massimo CENCINI*
CNR, Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi, Roma



*"Gyrotactic Phytoplankton Swimming in a Flow"
*
Abstract:
Many aquatic microorganisms are able to swim and typically do it in a 
moving, sometimes
turbulent, fluid environment. The interaction between swimming 
(self-propulsion) and flow
advection can give rise to interesting phenomenology, especially 
concerning the spatial
distribution of microbes. Many aspects of such interaction can be 
understood by using ideas
and tools from dynamical systems theory and fluid mechanics. Here we 
shall discuss some
of these aspects focusing on the case study of gyrotactic phytoplankton, 
which swims by
means of two flagella opposite to the center of mass, which is displaced 
with respect to the
center of symmetry --- bottom heavy cells.
*
*