Sigma Xi Distinguished Seminar

Title: How do bacteria swim and how can this inspire nanorobotics?

Abstract: Diffusion is generally not an efficient mechanism to transport micro- nanoparticles over larger distances. For this reason many microorganisms, including pathogens, have developed swimming strategies. It is interesting to ask if animate micro- and/or nanoparticles can also swim, which could have far reaching implications for particle-based therapeutics and nanomedicine. In this talk, I will discuss the special world that microorganisms encounter in fluids and describe our work in fabricating unique nanopropellers in the shape of bacterial flagella.

About Dr. Fischer: Peer Fischer directs the Micro Nano and Molecular Systems Lab at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg. He received a BSc. degree in Physics from Imperial College London and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He was a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University, and a Rowland Fellow at Harvard where he headed an interdisciplinary research lab. Peer Fischer was then a professor at the University of Stuttgart and the MPI for Intelligent Systems. He won a Fraunhofer Attract Award, two European Union ERC Grants, and a World Technology Award. He is a member of the Max Planck - EPFL Center for Molecular Nanoscience and Technology. Prof. Fischer is an Editorial Board Member of the journal Science Robotics and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.