Journal of Fluid Mechanics Webinar Series: Amin Doostmohammadi, University of Copenhagen

Speaker: Amin Doostmohammadi, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Date/Time: Friday 5th February, 2021. 4:00 pm GMT/11am EST

Title: Engines of life: self-pumping, bio-inspired fluids

Abstract: Sperms, bacteria, and tissues, all work as engines of life converting chemical energy into motion. These systems are known as active materials and are capable of self-pumping with prominent role in biological processes, from organ formation to tumor progression. A generic property of active fluids is the spontaneous emergence of collective flows, which often leads to chaotic flow patterns characterized by swirls, jets, and topological disclinations in their orientation field. I will first discuss examples of these collective flows helping us understand biological processes. I will then discuss various strategies to tame, otherwise chaotic, active flows, showing how hydrodynamic screening of active flows can act as a robust way of controlling and guiding active particles into dynamically ordered coherent structures. I will also explain how combining hydrodynamics with topological constraints can lead to further control of exotic morphologies of active shells.