Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 26, 2026

Generating Controlled, Dynamic Chemical Landscapes to Study Microbial Behavior
Published on: January 31, 2020
Hotspots of boundary accumulation: dynamics and statistics of micro-swimmers in flowing films
Arnold J T M Mathijssen1, Amin Doostmohammadi2, Julia M Yeomans2
1The Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, 1 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3NP, UK mathijssen@physics.ox.ac.uk.
Abstract:
Biological flows over surfaces and interfaces can result in accumulation hotspots or depleted voids of microorganisms in natural environments. Apprehending the mechanisms that lead to such distributions is essential for understanding biofilm initiation. Using a systematic framework, we resolve the dynamics and statistics of swimming microbes within flowing films, considering the impact of confinement through steric and hydrodynamic interactions, flow and motility, along with Brownian and run-tumble fluctuations. Micro-swimmers can be peeled off the solid wall above a critical flow strength. However, the interplay of flow and fluctuations causes organisms to migrate back towards the wall above a secondary critical value. Hence, faster flows may not always be the most efficacious strategy to discourage biofilm initiation. Moreover, we find run-tumble dynamics commonly used by flagellated microbes to be an intrinsically more successful strategy to escape from boundaries than equivalent levels of enhanced Brownian noise in ciliated organisms.
Related Concept Videos
Laminar and Turbulent Flow
Eulerian and Lagrangian Flow Descriptions
The Eulerian method focuses on fixed points in space where fluid properties, such as velocity, pressure, and temperature, are observed as the fluid moves between these...
Steady Flow of a Fluid Stream
During this process, the momentum of the fluid within the control volume remains constant over the time interval dt. By applying the...
Typical Model Studies

