Albane Théry

I am a Simons' Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center for Mathematical Biology at the University of Pennsylvania. I build mathematical and numerical models for hydrodynamics problems that arise in soft active matter and biological physics, with particular interest in self-organization and complex environments.
I completed my PhD in 2022 at Cambridge in the group of Eric Lauga.

Research Interests

I work on problems at the interface between biology and fluid mechanics at small scales. Specifically, I have been working on the influence of confinement on the large-scale patterns that emerge in suspensions of self-propelled particles interacting through the fluid. I also seek to understand the interplay between the properties of complex fluids, and an organism swimming and sensing its surroundings.
Although I carried out experiments for projects in the MMN lab and at McMaster University , my current work is theoretical. That said, some of my favorite projects so far focused on understanding existing experimental data by building minimal models and simulations.
The gallery below shows some snapshot of current and recent research projects.

Bacterial contamination in complex fluids.

Upstream swimming of bacteria near surfaces is enhanced in shear-thinning and viscoelastic fluids.

Efficiency of helical swimming in suspensions.

Hydrodynamic interactions with surrounding particles can improve the efficiency of helical propulsion, as shown experimentally.

Taxis-driven self-organisation

A sequence of symmetry-breaking sets the self-organisation of biased swimmers in a drop.

Collective dynamics of Magnetotactic bacteria

Plumes emerge and grow in a concentrated suspension of MTBs aligned to an external field. We explain these novel dynamics using hydrodynamic singularities.

Stability of squirmer clusters

How much do hydrodynamic interactions control the stability clusters of self-propelled droplets? We study the hydrodynamic formation and breaking of circles of squirmers

Trapping in foams

Study of the spatial distribution of Chlamydomonas algae in a microfluidic chamber mimicking foam Plateau borders. A geometric billiard model shows that the swimmers get trapped in corners.

Publications

Teaching

  • Penn Mathematical Biology graduate class, lecturer (Fall 2023)
  • Cambridge Fluid Mechanics Part II, tutorials (2018-19, 19-20 and 21-22)
  • Mathematical Biology Part II, tutorials (2019-20 and 20-21)
  • Part III events for careers in UK research and industry.

Selected talks and presentations

  • 2024: Northwestern Applied Mathematics seminar Swimmers in complex and confined environments
  • 2023: Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) APS meeting (Washington DC), Enhanced rheotaxis in complex fluids
  • 2023: Center for Fluid Mechanics seminar, Brown University: Swimming in confinement
  • 2023: MathBio seminar, NJIT: Microswimmers in complex fluids: propulsion and rheotaxis
  • 2022: AMS Western Sectional Meeting, (U. of Utah) Tuning self-organization of biased microswimmers
  • 2022: Princeton Analysis of Fluid Seminar: Controlling confined collective organization with taxis.
  • 2021: UK Fluids Conference (online) Hydrodynamic interactions of sedimenting squirmers
  • 2020: DFD meeting (online) Rebound and scattering of motile Chlamydomonas in confined chambers
  • 2019: DFD meeting (Seattle, WA) Bacterial magneto-convection
  • 2019: Bifurcations and Instabilities in Fluid Dynamic (Limerick, Ireland) Bacterial magneto-convection

Contact

DRL 3N4C, Department of Mathematics
University of Pennsylvania
209 S 33rd Street, Philadelphia, US

Email: athery (at) sas.upennn.edu