Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 18: Complex Fluids and Soft Matter (joint DY/CPP/BP)

BP 18.4: Talk

Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 10:15–10:30, ZEU 118

Complex dynamics of a bilamellar vesicle as a simple model for leukocytes — •Badr Kaoui — Theoretical Physics I, University of Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany — Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, P. O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands

The influence of the internal structure of a biological cell (e.g., a leukocyte) on its dynamics and rheology is not yet fully understood. By using 2D numerical simulations of a bilamellar vesicle (BLV) consisting of two vesicles as a cell model, we find that increasing the size of the inner vesicle (mimicking the nucleus) triggers a tank-treading-to-tumbling transition. A new dynamical state is observed, the undulating motion: the BLV inclination with respect to the imposed flow oscillates while the outer vesicle develops rotating lobes. The BLV exhibits a non-Newtonian behavior with a time-dependent apparent viscosity during its unsteady motion. Depending on its inclination and on its inner vesicle dynamical state, the BLV behaves like a solid or a liquid [Badr Kaoui, Timm Krüger and Jens Harting, Soft Matter 9, 8057 (2013)].