LU konferenceRESEARCHER on Exploring bacterial swarming
(doctoral research topic).
Institution: University of Latvia, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Physics, Living Materials Group
Duration: Three years (from October 2025)
Supervisor: Dr. Damien Faivre (ResearchGate profile)
Email: damien.faivre@lu.lv
Application process: by 1 August, 2025 submitted CV and cover letter outlining the motivation and sent to gita.grinberga@lu.lv
Renumeration: EUR 2000-2400 (gross)
Student Qualifications:
- MSc degree in physics, biophysics, materials science, chemistry, microbiology or eq.
- Proficient English is required.
- Skills in microfluidics, optical microscopy, and programming will be highly appreciated.
- Collaboration with scientists from diverse fields is expected.
Brief description of the project: Microrobots are envisioned as the tool of the future for personalized medicine. A possible route to microswimmers is the use of swimming microorganisms, profiting from their inherent capability of motion with an onboard fueling system. However, in the medical context, an effective drug dose can only be achieved if a large quantity of these microswimmers reach the targeted zone.
The coordinated movement of bacterial population is coined as swarming motility. Swarming has been reported for a large set of bacterial species, for which the specific conditions that promote this particular behavior are species dependent. Swarming mostly occurs on solidified media.
The aim of this project will be to broaden our understanding of swarming in different species of bacteria. Several species of E. coli and of magnetotactic bacteria, microorganisms forming magnetic nanoparticle intracellulary, will be investigated during the thesis. Typically, motility assays involving the use of microfluidics, microscopy and image analysis approaches will be developed to investigate, on a single-cell and population level, the swarming responses of the strains. These responses will be translated to determine conditions necessary for a swarm to move as a whole population in coordination with a controlling signal.
The project is funded by an ERA Chair grant from the European Union: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101187789