I just got very good news! Our lab has been awarded a Research Grant from The Royal Society. This grant will allow us to buy new equipment and kickstart a new collaboration with Dimitris Petroutsos (CEA, Grenoble) and Idan Tuval (IMEDEA, Mallorca) on Chlamydomonas phototaxis. This project will be the focus of Richard Henshaw’s Ph.D.
Author: mpolin
Matteo in Boulder, Colorado
Matteo is currently attending the 2015 Boulder Summer School, on Soft Matter in and out of equilibrium. Boulder summer schools have a long tradition. They are quite long (4 weeks!), extremely well organised, and really interesting. Plus, Boulder is a wonderful place especially if you’re outdoors oriented!
Raphael goes to Aberdeen
Raphael is leaving this evening for Aberdeen! He is going for a conference on Physics and Biology of Active Systems, where he will present his (almost completed) work on bioactive dispersal of tracers. He found a cool effect that was not noticed before but ends up dominating the statistical properties of the tracers, which disperse with an effective diffusivity more than one order of magnitude larger than previously estimated. We’ll write-up soon(ish) so watch this space!
Metachronal Wave Defects on Interface!
The Journal of the Royal Society: Interface just accepted our latest paper, which includes the first report of recurring defects in metachronal coordination of eukaryotic flagella (see also Arxiv version). These defects, which we observe in Volvox carteri, are a type of incomplete coordination which we think might originate from a variation, along the surface of Volvox, in the frequency at which cells beat their flagella. They might be related to so-called chimera states of groups of interacting oscillators…. More to come on this: we’re still working on it!
Matteo accepted at school in Plymouth
Matteo has been accepted at the 2015 EMBO Practical Course in Advanced Optical Microscopy. This is a truly excellent course on all aspects of optical microscopy, which includes plenty of hands-on experience. I am certain it will be a blast for Matteo! ….and we’re looking forward to him returning to the lab with plenty of new ideas !
Richard Henshaw to join the group in October
I am very pleased to say that Richard Henshaw (Maths & Phys, U. Warwick) will join our group in October for his PhD. Richard has already been working with us for his final year project, looking at movement of Micromonas pusilla an important picoeukaryote. Looking forward to working with him again for his PhD !!
Matteo goes to Julich!
Matteo has been accepted to the IFF Spring School 2015 to take place in Julich in late February. This is a well established spring school, which has been running for over 40 years. This year it will focus on Materials, Soft Matter and Biophysics.
Well done Matteo!
eLife selects our paper!!
Ph.D. Student Opening
There is a new opening for a Ph.D. student in the group, to work on movement of microorganisms in response to light. The plan is for this project to kickstart a collaboration with the group of Giovanni Finazzi, at CEA Grenoble (Fr.). More informations can be found here. If you’re interested or know outstanding students that might be interested, do not hesitate to contact Marco! Funding is for UK students or outstanding EU (continental) students only.
New Office!
On a light note, today Raphael and Matteo took possession of their new office, which is now groundfloor in the Physics main building. As you can see, the whiteboard in the office was the vehicle of choice to express the excitement of finally running their own kingdom! 😉
Polin Lab 