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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 47: Focus Session: Controlling Microparticles and Biological Cells by Ultrasound (joint session BP/CPP/DY)
CPP 47.3: Vortrag
Donnerstag, 12. März 2026, 11:00–11:15, BAR/0106
A Theoretical Model for Ultrasound-Induced Intracellular Streaming — •Niels Gieseler1,2,3, Falko Ziebert1,2, and Ulrich S. Schwarz1,2 — 1Institute for Theoretical Physics, Heidelberg University, Philosophenweg 19, Heidelberg 69120 Germany — 2BioQuant, Heidelberg University, im Neuenheimer Feld 267, Heidelberg 69120 Germany — 3Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstrasse 29, Heidelberg 69120, Germany
Ultrasound is not only the basis of an essential imaging method for biomedicine, recently it has also become a promising avenue to control biological systems, for example, in sonogenetics or ultrasound neuromodulation. However, the underlying physical effects are not well understood, and a complete theoretical description is missing. In fact, many different physical effects compete, including radiation forces, streaming, cavitation, and local heating. Here, we focus on intracellular streaming, which might induce organelle movement or alter gene expression, as the steady second-order rotational flow generated by an acoustic source. As a model for the viscoelastic nature of cells and their surroundings, we use Oldroyd-B fluids. Building on existing work, we calculate the streaming flows inside and outside of a sphere sonicated with a plane wave. The streaming is treated as a second-order perturbation expansion of the Navier-Stokes equations, which is solved separately for both media and combined using suitable boundary conditions. Our work shows under which conditions intracellular streaming can be induced in biological cells.
Keywords: Acoustofluidics; Acoustic Streaming; Viscoelasitcity; Cell mechanics; Mechanotransduction