Publications

Selected Publications

For many bacteria, motility stems from one or more flagella, each rotated by the bacterial flagellar motor, a powerful rotary molecular machine. The hook, a soft polymer at the base of each flagellum, acts as a universal joint, coupling rotation between the rigid membrane-spanning rotor and rigid flagellum. In multi-flagellated species, where thrust arises from a hydrodynamically coordinated flagellar bundle, hook flexibility is crucial, as flagella rotate significantly off-axis. However, consequently, the thrust applies a significant bending moment. Therefore, the hook must simultaneously be compliant to enable bundle formation yet rigid to withstand large hydrodynamical forces. Here, via high-resolution measurements and analysis of hook fluctuations under dynamical conditions, we elucidate how it fulfills this double functionality: the hook shows a dynamic increase in bending stiffness under increasing torsional stress. Such strain-stiffening allows the system to be flexible when needed yet reduce deformation under high loads, enabling high speed motility.

Speech is a potent route for viral transmission in the COVID-19 pandemic. Informed mitigation strategies are difficult to develop since no aerosolization mechanism has been visualized yet in the oral cavity. Here we show with high-speed imaging how phonation of common stop consonants, found in most of the world's spoken languages, form and extend salivary filaments in a few milliseconds as moist lips open or when the tongue separates from the teeth. Both saliva viscoelasticity and airflow associated with the plosion of stop consonants are essential for stabilizing and subsequently forming centimeter-scale thin filaments, tens of microns in diameter, that break into speech droplets. Moreover, these plosive consonants induce vortex rings that drive meter-long transport of exhaled air, tying this mechanism to transport associated with speech. We demonstrate that a similar mechanism of aerosolization occurs during the vibration of reeds in wind instruments and may occur during the flapping of the glottis folds. Finally, our research suggests a mitigation of droplet production during speech by using a lip balm.

Blood vessels in living tissues are an organized and hierarchical network of arteries, arterioles, capillaries, veinules and veins. Their sizes, lengths, shapes and connectivity are set up for an optimum perfusion of the tissues in which they deploy. In order to study the hemodynamics and hemophysics of blood flows and also to investigate artificial vasculature for organs on a chip, it is essential to reproduce most of these geometric features. Common microfluidic techniques produce channels with a uniform height and a rectangular cross section that do not capture the size hierarchy observed in vivo. This paper presents a new single-mask photolithography process using an optical diffuser to produce a backside exposure leading to microchannels with both a rounded cross section and a direct proportionality between local height and local width, allowing a one-step design of intrinsically hierarchical networks.


Medical reports and news sources raise the possibility that flows created during breathing, speaking, laughing, singing, or exercise could be the means by which asymptomatic individuals contribute to spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We use experiments and simulations to quantify how exhaled air is transported in speech. Phonetic characteristics introduce complexity to the airflow dynamics and plosive sounds, such as “P,” produce intense vortical structures that behave like “puffs” and rapidly reach 1 m. However, speech, corresponding to a train of such puffs, creates a conical, turbulent, jet-like flow and easily produces directed transport over 2 m in 30 s of conversation. This work should inform public health guidance for risk reduction and mitigation strategies of airborne pathogen transmission.

CO2 spray emitted during the singing of a MET Orchestra singer, recorded by infrared camera. Speech and singing spread droplets of saliva, which, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, raises many questions. Scientists have conducted several studies to shed light on what happens during conversations. They have observed that the flow of air generated when speaking has a direction and range dependent on the sounds produced. For example, the accumulation of plosive consonants, such as the P in "papa", produces a conical airflow of up to 2 meters in 30 seconds. These results also underline the fact that exposure time during a conversation influences the risk of contamination just as much as distance. Another study has described the mechanism by which micro-droplets are produced during speech: salivary filaments are formed on the lips for the consonants P and B, for example, and are then stretched, refined and fragmented into droplets. This work is currently being continued with New York City's Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, in a project designed to determine the safest conditions for the continued operation of this prestigious orchestra :    Youtube video of Opera Singer Isabel Leonard 


Our work reveals rich RBCs’ dynamic morphologies which govern blood shear thinning under microcirculatory flow conditions, contrary to the current paradigm assuming steady RBC orientation and membrane circulation. Our results suggest that any pathological change in RBCs’ local rheology will impact the onset of these morphological transitions and should play a key role in pathological blood flow.

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