Session MV: Swimming V: Micro-organisms II

8:00 AM–10:10 AM, Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Room: 205A-D

Chair: Timothy J. Pedley, University of Cambridge

Abstract ID: BAPS.2009.DFD.MV.5

Abstract: MV.00005 : Colloidal motility and patterning by physical chemotaxis

8:52 AM–9:05 AM

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Authors:

  Jeremie Palacci
    (Universite de Lyon)

  Benjamin Abecassis
    (LETI, CEA Grenoble)

  Cecile Cottin-Bizonne
    (Universite de Lyon)

  Christophe Ybert
    (Universite de Lyon)

  Lyderic Bocquet
    (Universite de Lyon)

We developped a microfluidic setup to show the motility of colloids or biomolecules under a controlled salt gradient thanks to the diffusiophoresis phenomenon [1,2]. We can therefore mimic chemotaxis on simple physical basis with thrilling analogies with the biological chemotaxis of E. Coli bacteria: salt dependance of the velocity [3] and log-sensing behavior [4]. In addition with a temporally tunable gradient we show we can generate an effective osmotic potential to trap colloids or DNA. These experimental observations are supported by numerical simulations and an asymptotic ratchet model. Finally, we use these traps to generate various patterns and because concentration gradients are ubiquitous in nature, we question for the role of such a mecanism in morphogenesis [5] or positioning perspectives in cells [6]. \\[4pt] [1] B. Abecassis, C. Cottin-Bizonne, C. Ybert, A. Ajdari, and L. Bocquet, Nat. Mat., 7(10):785--789, 2008. [2] Anderson, Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech, 21, 1989. [3] Y. L. Qi and J. Adler, PNAS, 86(21):8358--8362, 1989. [4] Y. V. Kalinin, L. L. Jiang, Y. H. Tu, and M. M. Wu, Biophys. J., 96(6):2439--2448, 2009. [4] J. B. Moseley, A. Mayeux, A. Paoletti, and P. Nurse, Nat., 459(7248):857--U8, 2009. [6] L. Wolpert, Dev., 107:3--12, 1989

To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2009.DFD.MV.5