title: Artificial micro-swimmers in simulated natural environments.
abstract: Microswimmers, such as bacteria, are known to show different behaviours depending on their local environment. They identify spatial chemical gradients to find nutrient rich areas (chemotaxis) and interact with shear flows to accumulate in high shear regions. Recently, artificial microswimmers have been developed which mimic their natural counterparts in many ways. One of the exciting topics in this field is to study these artificial motors in several natural settings like the ones bacteria interact with. In this Focus article, we summarize recent observations of artificial swimmers in chemical gradients, shear flows and other interesting natural environments simulated in the lab using microfluidics and nanotechnology.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstrasse 3, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany. sanchez@is.mpg.de and Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Baldiri I Reixac 10-12, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. ssanchez@ibecbarcelona.eu.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Katuri
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology), Pohang, Gyeongbuk, 790-784 Korea.
authors.forename: K D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology), Pohang, Gyeongbuk, 790-784 Korea.
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstrasse 3, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany. sanchez@is.mpg.de and Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Baldiri I Reixac 10-12, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. ssanchez@ibecbarcelona.eu and Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Psg. Lluís Companys, 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sánchez
mesh_terms: D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D032701:Biomimetics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D002633:Chemotaxis; D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry; D004777:Environment; D004798:Enzymes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation; D010316:Particle Size; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000737:chemistry; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids; D004798:Enzymes; D011137:Polystyrenes; D012822:Silicon Dioxide