Hydrodynamics of sessile choanoflagellates
Title: Hydrodynamics of sessile choanoflagellates
Student: Greg Bustamante
Advisor: Dr. Hoa Nguyen
Abstract: Choanoflagellates are unicellular organisms whose intriguing morphology includes a set of collars/microvilli emanating from the cell body, surrounding the beating flagellum. Certain species of choanoflagellates are also known to attach themselves to a substrate via a pedicel which extends from the cell body. We investigate the role of the microvilli and pedicel in the feeding behavior of the organism using the method of regularized Stokeslets and the method of images for regularized Stokeslets. These models allow us to depict the effective capture of nutritional particles and bacteria in the fluid as well as analyze the flow field around the choanoflagellates.