Dresden 2026 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 14: Poster Session II

BP 14.12: Poster

Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 18:00–21:00, P2

Swimming With and Against Confined Microscale Flows — •Vishu Saini and Marisol Ripoll — Theoretical Physics of Living Matter (IAS-2), Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich , Germany

Bacteria in real-world settings are typically navigating heterogeneous porous media, such as soil [1]. Such environments involve a complex interplay between geometric confinement and fluid flow [2], which can be understood as networks of channels with varying cross sections [3]. By means of Brownian Dynamics simulations, we investigate the properties of microswimmers in the presence of both confinement and flow to identify universal mechanisms that microorganisms employ to traverse complex environments. Since self-propelled particles tend to accumulate at the walls, the strength of the flow will determine the upstream or downstream nature of swimming. This will be importantly modified by the intrinsic rotational noise of the self-propelled and the channel width, which is known to vary together with the geometric characteristics of the media. The interaction between self-propelled particles will also importantly affect the dynamics with the formation of percolating clusters. We systematically characterize these dynamics for varying flow strengths and channel sizes, as often encountered in soil-like porous environments.

[1] Bhattacharjee et al (2019). Nature communications, 10(1), 2075. [2] Conrad, J. C et al. Annual review of chemical and biomolecular engineering, 9(1), 175-200. [3] Monteiro et al. Commun Biol 8, 662 (2025).

Keywords: Confined Flow; Brownian Dynamics Simulations; Self-propelled Particles