Micro-swimmers

Helical trajectories and flagellar shapes

in swimming Euglena gracilis

Like all flagellates and ciliates that swim

by beating cilia and flagella periodically,

Euglena’s center and eyespot trajectories

are generalized helices (Helix Theorem).

We use this result to lift 2d optical microscopy to 3d and reconstruct 3d flagellar shapes

A model magneto-elastic swimmer

propelled by an oscillating magnetic field.

The swimmer length is 110 micron and it swims at 90 micron/s, close to the swimming speed of sperm cells in water.

Micro-crawlers

A model crawler exploiting directional frictional interactions for locomotion