PHYMOT focuses on the study of the motility of microorganisms, in particular bacteria, algae and trypanosomes. Many of the active processes involved, for instance, the motion of bacteria and algae, and the feeding of marine and sweet-water flagellates, are driven by flagella. These are long tails that generate motion of the microorganism or the fluid that they are embedded in by actively rotating or beating.
The scientific questions and systems related to microbial motility belong to the larger research field of Active Matter, which consists of entities that consume energy to move or perform mechanical work. These entities can be macroscopic living organisms like animals or humans, small-scale microorganisms (bacteria, algae, ..) or even artificial nanoscopic particles that move by transforming chemical energy, light or temperature gradients into motion.
The scientific objective of PHYMOT is to understand the physics of cell motility, from single cells to collective behaviour. Cell swimming underpins a wide range of fundamental biological phenomena from microbial grazing at the base of the food web to parasitic infections and animal reproduction. Research on cell motility is booming, driven by new experimental, theoretical, and numerical tools from mathematics, engineering, and physics. Advances have provided fundamental new insights, from the constraints on single-cell propulsion to the optimality of responses to environmental clues, and promise new technologies based on control of microbial movement.
PHYMOT provides an interdisciplinary research and training program for 15 excellent young Early-Stage Researchers with the opportunity to work on the intersection between academia and industry and to benefit from the interdisciplinary environment where physics, biology and engineering meet.
The questions addressed in PHYMOT have a substantial impact beyond a purely academic interest ranging from food production, new disease treatment strategies, and sustainable and ecological development.
