Locomotion and Transport in a Liquid Crystal

液晶中的运动和传输

基本信息

批准号：
1437195
负责人：
Thomas Powers
金额：
$ 27万
依托单位：
Brown University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2014
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2014-09-01 至 2019-08-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1437195&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Locomotion Transport Liquid Crystal

项目摘要

The goal of the proposed study is to investigate the fundamentals of swimming of microorganisms in liquid crystal environments. Swimming and swarming of microorganisms is a topic of considerable current interest, with a lot of research left to be done in the case of swimming in fluids that are more complex than water. Results of this work will deepen our understanding of the behavior of microorganisms in complex yet very relevant systems, such as mucus and biofilms. The PI will continue to participate in the Research Experiences for Teachers program, which invites K-12 teachers from local schools to the Brown campus to participate in laboratory research and course development projects during the summer, and in the Brown University Summer High School program , giving lectures and demonstrations on the physics of locomotion and liquid crystals. The PI will also contribute lectures and discussions to the Providence After School Alliance (PASA), a local organization that provides expanded learning opportunities to high school students.The goal of the proposed research is to provide the theoretical framework for understanding the swimming of microorganisms in liquid crystal solutions. These liquid crystal solutions are model systems for the study of more complicated anisotropic biological systems, but are also interesting in their own right as a means for manipulating active colloidal particles. While the hydrodynamic interactions between microscopic swimmers in Newtonian fluids, such as water, have received a lot of attention, bacteria commonly colonize environments laden with polymers. Since these polymers are typically rod-like and aligned, these environments are often anisotropic. For example, extracellular DNA forms parallel bundles in biofilms, and bacteria have been observed to swim preferentially along the direction of alignment. Furthermore, several experimental groups have recently begun to study swimming bacteria in nontoxic synthetic liquid crystal solutions. The proposal is addressing this issue exactly, the development of a theory that would describe phenomena that are experimentally observed.

拟议的研究的目的是研究液晶环境中微生物游泳的基础。微生物的游泳和蜂拥而至是当前非常兴趣的话题，在游泳的情况下，要在比水更复杂的液体中游泳，还有很多研究要做。这项工作的结果将加深我们对微生物在复杂但非常相关的系统（例如粘液和生物膜）中的行为的理解。 PI将继续参加教师计划的研究经验，该计划邀请K-12的教师到夏季，并在夏季参加了实验室研究和课程开发项目，并参加了布朗大学夏季高中计划，对机车和液晶的物理学进行了讲座和演示。 PI还将向Providence After Alliance（PASA）进行讲座和讨论，该联盟（PASA）是一个为高中生提供扩展的学习机会的当地组织。拟议的研究的目的是为理解液晶解决方案中微生物游泳的理论框架提供理论框架。这些液晶溶液是研究更复杂的各向异性生物系统的模型系统，但本身也很有趣，作为操纵活动胶体颗粒的一种手段。虽然牛顿流体中的微观游泳者（例如水）的流体动力相互作用引起了很多关注，但细菌通常会在聚合物中植入。由于这些聚合物通常类似杆状和对齐，因此这些环境通常是各向异性的。例如，细胞外DNA在生物膜中形成平行束，并且已经观察到细菌沿对齐方向优先游泳。此外，几个实验组最近开始研究无毒合成液晶溶液中的游泳细菌。该提议正是准确地解决了这个问题，即一种将描述实验观察到的现象的理论的发展。