Theresa Jakuszeit

My research focuses on the swimming behaviour of microorganisms and its role in ecological and biotechnological systems. Many microorganisms are able to bias their motion according to different environmental cues. For example, chemical signals can bias bacterial swimming (chemotaxis), while algae may respond to light (phototaxis) or a combination of gravitational and viscous torques (gyrotaxis). Using a combination of experiments and simulations, I will investigate the biophysics that govern microbial swimming. A deeper understanding of these dynamics can be of great interest for improving the efficiency of algal cultivation and other promising biotechnological applications, e.g. bioremediation (cleaning up soils by using bacteria).