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Updated: May 24, 2026

A Microfluidic Device for Quantifying Bacterial Chemotaxis in Stable Concentration Gradients
Published on: April 19, 2010
Chemotaxis driven instability of a confined bacterial suspension
1School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
Abstract:
A suspension of bacteria in a thin channel or film subject to a gradient in the concentration of a chemoattractant, will develop, in the absence of an imposed fluid flow, a steady bacteria concentration field that depends exponentially on cross-stream position. Above a critical bacteria concentration, this quiescent base state is unstable to a steady convective motion driven by the active stresses induced by the bacteria's swimming. Unlike previously identified long-wavelength instabilities of active fluids, this instability results from coupling of the bacteria concentration field with the disturbance flow.
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