Eamonn Gaffney (Maths, Oxford)

Exploring the mechanics of swimming flagellates 

Abstract
Mammalian spermotozoa motility is a subject of growing importance, due to
rising human infertility and the possibility of improving animal breeding
for livestock and conservation, while understanding how bacterial motility
contributes to colonisation and biofilm initiation is of fundamental
concern in numerous fields. Fluid and continuum dynamics offers many
opportunities to provide novel insights concerning the mechanics of such
swimming cells.  Examples of the information that can be extracted by
combining imaging and fluid dynamics will be highlighted together with its
mechanical interpretation.  In addition, we will explore the influence of
sperm cell flagellar compliance in highly viscous media and its impact on
swimming behaviours as well as investigating how the rotating bacterial
flagellar helix influences prokaryotic cell behaviours near surfaces.