activity
20242026
collaborators

5 papers

cond-mat.soft2026

Theory of Cell Body Lensing and Phototaxis Sign Reversal in "Eyeless" Mutants of

Sumit Kumar Birwa, Ming Yang, Adriana I. Pesci +1

Phototaxis of many species of green algae relies upon directional sensitivity of their membrane-bound photoreceptors, which arises from the presence of a pigmented "eyespot" behind…

cond-mat.soft2025

Phototactic Decision-Making by Micro-Algae

Shantanu Raikwar, Adham Al-Kassem, Nir S. Gov +3

We study how simple eukaryotic organisms make decisions in response to competing stimuli in the context of phototaxis by the unicellular alga . While neg…

cond-mat.soft2025

Algal Optics

Ming Yang, Sumit Kumar Birwa, Raymond E. Goldstein

Nearly a decade ago it was discovered that the spherical cell body of the alga can act as a lens to concentrate incoming light onto the cell's membrane-…

cond-mat.soft2024

Spatiotemporal distribution of the glycoprotein pherophorin II reveals stochastic geometry of the growing ECM of

Benjamin von der Heyde, Anand Srinivasan, Sumit Kumar Birwa +4

The evolution of multicellularity involved the transformation of a simple cell wall of unicellular ancestors into a complex, multifunctional extracellular matrix (ECM). A suitable…

cond-mat.soft2024

The 2024 Motile Active Matter Roadmap

Gerhard Gompper, Howard A. Stone, Christina Kurzthaler +29

Activity and autonomous motion are fundamental aspects of many living and engineering systems. Here, the scale of biological agents covers a wide range, from nanomotors, cytoskelet…