Ayantika Saha

Formation of a swelling gel underlies a morphological transition in Bacillus subtilis biofilms.

Microbes across diverse species and environments form biofilms, living materials composed of cells and extracellular polymers. Biofilm-dwelling cells benefit from emergent soft matter physics, which sculpts three-dimensional morphologies and facilitates osmotic nutrient uptake. Although biofilms are modeled as viscoela...