Materials Science Research Lecture

***Refreshments at 3:45pm in Noyes lobby

Abstract:

Bacteria in nature inhabit complex environments like mucus, biofilm matrices, and soils. However, lab studies typically focus on cells in simple liquid media or at flat interfaces. How do the material properties of these complex environments shape bacterial behavior? In this talk, I will describe my group's work addressing this question using tools from soft matter, 3D imaging, and biophysical modeling. We have developed the ability to (i) directly visualize bacteria from the scale of a single cell to that of an entire multi-cellular collective, (ii) 3D-print precisely structured collectives, and (iii) model their large-scale motion and growth in complex environments akin to natural soils and sediments. I will describe how, using this approach, we have discovered several ways in which material interactions fundamentally alter bacterial motility and growth—with implications for microbial ecology, engineered living materials, and other active matter systems.

More about the Speaker:

Sujit Datta is a Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Biophysics at Caltech, where his group integrates experiment, theory, and computation to study transport processes of complex fluids, gels, and microbes in complex environments. He is also Editor-in-Chief of Reviews of Modern Physics. Prior to moving to Caltech in 2024, Sujit was Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies of Chemical & Biological Engineering at Princeton University. Sujit's scholarship has been recognized by awards from a range of different communities, including three awards from the APS (Early Career Award in Biological Physics, Andreas Acrivos Award in Fluid Dynamics, and Apker Award), the Allan P. Colburn and 35 Under 35 Awards of the AIChE, Pew Biomedical Scholar Award, Arthur Metzner Award of the Society of Rheology, Unilever Award of the ACS, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, NSF CAREER Award, and Soft Matter Lectureship of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Sujit received his undergraduate degrees in Physics and Mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania, his PhD in Physics from Harvard, and postdoctoral training at Caltech.