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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Bluejeans link for the seminar is available here.
Contact Daniel Muratore (here) for questions.
Summary Sentence: QBioS Student Seminar Series - Kelimar Diaz
Full Summary: QBioS 4th year student Kelimar Diaz (homeschool of physics), advised by Daniel Goldman, will present "Maneuvering strategies of C. elegans locomotion in heterogeneous environments"
02_18_qbios_seminar_flyerManeuvering Strategies of C. elegans Locomotion in Heterogeneous Environments
Elongate animals (e.g., snakes, nematodes) propagate waves of body curvature to generate propulsion in dissipative environments. In particular, the nematode worm C. elegans lives in environments (e.g., rotting fruit) where maneuverability is crucial to overcome heterogeneities and post-interaction deformations. To search for steering control principles in undulatory locomotion, we studied C. elegans traversing both agar, liquid buffer, and lattices. These worms generate a time-dependent omega-like shape for reorientation to achieve high body rotation independent of the environment. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed the worms use four principal components during turning, superimposing two body traveling waves with two spatial frequencies. A geometric mechanics framework rationalized the observed turning dynamics by properly coupling the amplitude and the phase of the two body traveling waves. These results and robophysical experiments, implementing the behavior, suggest that omega turns are a robust strategy for turning in diverse environments.
The seminar will be hosted at this bluejeans link.
