SGER: A Two-Phase Fluid Model of Prokaryotic Collective Swimming

项目编号：CTS-0623870项目负责人：Wolgemuth， Charles w .合作单位：康涅狄格大学健康中心项目标题：SGER：原核生物集体游泳的两相流体模型该提案建议建立一种两相流体模型来描述游动细菌密集菌落中出现的伪湍流行为。当大量细菌集体游泳时，会产生许多有趣的流体流动，这些逆流会对细菌的游泳行为产生反馈。因此，研究细菌集体游动与相关流体动力学之间的耦合将有助于更全面地了解大量游动微生物的菌落发育，例如生物膜形成过程中可能出现的菌落发育。最近对密集游动的枯草芽孢杆菌种群的实验揭示了细菌/流体混合物中从随机游动到瞬时射流和涡旋模式的体积分数依赖转变。该提案将开发一个模型，将游动的细菌视为多相流体的一个阶段，将周围的水视为第二个阶段。知识价值：即使是适度的进步也会大大增加我们对细菌群体中出现的多相流体动力学的理解，这将对细菌行为的其他重要领域产生影响，如生物膜的形成。此外，该项目可能为纳米和微米级混合提供新的见解，可用于化学反应器的应用。该项目本质上是跨学科的，借鉴了流体力学、应用数学、软凝聚态物理和生物学的思想。更广泛的影响：研究结果将在跨学科会议和跨学科期刊上广泛传播。此外，该项目负责人还将在一个跨学科的本科/研究生班教授该项目的方法和结果。生物物理学导论，这是交叉上市之间的生物医学工程，物理学，数学，分子和细胞生物学。本课程在康涅狄格大学健康中心校区和主校区之间授课。

ABSTRACTProposal Number: CTS-0623870 Principal Investigator: Wolgemuth, Charles W.Affiliation: University of Connecticut Health CenterProposal Title: SGER: A two-phase fluid model of prokaryotic collective swimming This proposal suggests the development of a two-phase fluid model to describe thepseudo-turbulent behavior that arises in dense colonies of swimming bacteria. When large populations of bacteria collectively swim, many interesting fluid flows can be generated and these counter-flows produce feedback on the swimming behavior of the bacteria. Therefore,studying the coupling between collective swimming of bacteria and the associated hydrodynamics will lead to a more complete understanding of colony development inlarge populations of swimming micro-organisms, such as can arise during biofilm formation.Recent experiments on dense populations of swimming Bacillus subtilis have revealed a volume fraction-dependent transition from random swimming to transient jet and vortex patterns in the bacteria/fluid mixture. This proposal will develop a model that treats theswimming bacteria as one phase of a multi-phase fluid and the surrounding water as asecond-phase. Intellectual merit: Even modest progress will greatly increase our understanding ofthe multiphase fluid dynamics that arises in bacterial populations, which will haveconsequences for other important areas of bacterial behavior such as biofilm formation.In addition, this project may provide new insights for nano- and micron-scale mixing,which could be applicable for chemical reactor applications. The project is intrinsicallyinter-disciplinary, drawing on ideas from fluid mechanics, applied mathematics, softcondensed matter physics, and biology. Broader impact: The results will be broadly disseminated at interdisciplinaryconferences and in interdisciplinary journals. In addition, the PI will teach methods andresults from this project in an interdisciplinary upper level undergraduate/graduate classthat he has developed entitled. An Introduction to Biophysics, which is cross-listedbetween biomedical engineering, physics, mathematics, and molecular and cellularbiology. This course is taught between the Health Center campus and the main campusof the University of Connecticut.