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Updated: Aug 23, 2026

A Microfluidic Device for Quantifying Bacterial Chemotaxis in Stable Concentration Gradients
Published on: April 19, 2010
A new mathematical model for chemotactic bacterial colony growth
E Alpkvist1, N Chr Overgaard, S Gustafsson
1School of Technology and Society, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.
Abstract:
A new continuum model for the growth of a single species biofilm is proposed. The geometry of the biofilm is described by the interface between the biomass and the surrounding liquid. Nutrient transport is given by the solution of a semi-linear Poisson equation. In this model we study the morphology of a chemotactic bacterial colony, which grows in the direction of increasing nutrient concentration. Numerical simulations using the level set method and finite difference schemes are presented. The results show rich heterogeneous morphology.
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