Early Career Award for Biological Physics Research: Microswimmer behavior in complex confinement

Interactions between micro-swimmers and complex boundaries play an important role in the emergence of individual and collective behavior seen in biological and technological processes. I will discuss our ongoing work in modeling and simulations that aim to understand the motion of micro-swimmers such as bacteria, micro-algae, spermatozoa or active colloids in complex environments. Our results highlight the non-trivial interplay of the hydrodynamic and contact interactions of the individuals with each-other and the boundaries to give rise to elaborate individual and collective behavior.