Berlin 2018 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 21: Microswimmers (joint session BP/CPP/DY)

BP 21.7: Vortrag

Mittwoch, 14. März 2018, 16:45–17:00, H 1028

Three-dimensional simulation of sperm in structured microfluidic channels — •Sebastian Rode, Jens Elgeti, and Gerhard Gompper — Theoretical Soft Matter and Biophysics, Institute of Complex Systems (ICS-2) , Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany

Sperm cells propel themselves by a periodic wave-like beating of their flagellum [1-3]. At low Reynolds numbers and in confinement, the directed motion of sperm and other microswimmers is strongly influenced by steric and hydrodynamic surface interactions [1]. We model sperm motility in our mesoscale hydrodynamics simulations by imposing a planar traveling bending wave along the flagellum [2]. For swimming in zigzag shaped microchannels, we find that the deflection angle of a sperm cell at sharp corners depends on the orientation of its beating plane. Our results are in good agreement with recent microfluidic experiments, and help to improve the understanding of sperm cell navigation under strong confinement. We show that the emergence of a nonplanar component of the flagellar beat with increasing wavelength drastically increases surface attraction.

[1] J. Elgeti et al., Rep. Prog. Phys. 78, 056601 (2015) [2] J. Elgeti et al., Biophys. J. 99, 1018 (2010) [3] G. Saggiorato et al., Nat. Commun. 8, 1415 (2017)