Topological Defects in a Living Nematic Ensnare Swimming Bacteria

By M. Genkin, A. Sokolov, O. Lavrentovich, Igor S. Aranson. 2017

113 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Living liquid crystals are biosynthetic composites, comprised of living bacteria and liquid crystals, that exhibit unique optical and mechanical properties. A new computational model and set of experiments show how defects in the liquid crystal can concentrate or deplete the bacteria, suggesting a novel method for control and manipulation of microbial populations.

Subfields: Condensed Matter Physics, Mechanical Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2541ca81270b0d74fd07e3de9d2f24e25c8bac66