The younger flagellum sets the beat for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Eukaryotes swim with coordinated flagellar (ciliary) beating and steer by fine-tuning the coordination. The model organism for studying flagellate motility, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, employs synchronous, breaststroke-like flagellar beating to swim, and it modulates the beating amplitudes differentially to steer. This strategy hinges on both...

Motility of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii at different temperatures: The universe in a droplet

Algae remains a focal point of scientific inquiry with its wide-ranging environmental, health, and energy applications. Among model organisms, the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii holds significance, particularly in light of its responsiveness to temperature alterations impacting swimming velocity. Notably, this study...

Bioprinting of Regenerative Photosynthetic Living Materials

Living materials, which are fabricated by encapsulating living biological cells within a non-living matrix, have gained increasing attention in recent years. Their fabrication in spatially defined patterns that are mechanically robust is essential for their optimal functional performance but is difficult to achieve. Here, a bioprinting...

Kinematics and kinetics of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under imposed flows

From the bacteria living on a keyboard to algae surviving in snow, microorganisms can be found virtually everywhere on the planet. Due to their small size, microorganism swim in the low Reynolds number regime, which has important consequences for their swimming strategies. For motility, these organisms commonly use long slender filaments known...