Figure : Bacteria trajectories under different hydrodynamic conditions: (left panel: close to the channel wall. Right panel : far from the wall.)
We are interested in the influence of hydrodynamics on the transport properties of microorganisms (viruses, bacteria, amoebae) in confined or unconfined, laminar or turbulent flows. In particular, we focus our studies on the mechanisms of transfer of these organisms to walls in order to understand, for example, the first steps of colonization of a surface for the formation of a biofilm.
We develop experiments in which hydrodynamics are perfectly controlled (confinement, shear and parietal stress, …). Optical techniques are developed in order to follow the dynamics of the microorganisms in the flow. These studies are completed by microbiological analyses carried out with our microbiologist partners.