Fall 2016
Colloquia are held on Fridays at 11:30 a.m. in Cullimore Lecture Hall II, unless noted otherwise. Refreshments are served at 11:30 am. For questions about the seminar schedule, please contact Yassine Boubendir.
Date: October 21, 2016
Speaker: Eva A. Kanso
Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering,
University of Southern California
Title: "Active and Driven Crystals in Confined Microfluidic Channels"
Abstract:
Microfluidic technologies are revolutionizing modern research in cell diagnostics and drug development. For example, micro-channels offer a great platform for designing high-throuput devices for the detection of cancerous or infectious bacterial cells. Great progress has been achieved in these directions, but many questions concerning the dynamics and behavior of driven and active particles in microfluidic channels remain open. Here, I will present an analytical model for examining the collective behavior of confined microparticles. I will show that motile and driven particles exhibit interesting emergent behavior, from propagating density sound waves to density shock waves, and I will discuss the implication of these findings to applications such as cell sorting and manipulation.