A new article was published from Schwarz group (project 04):
The SFB teams discovered that malaria parasites can migrate in large vortices when extracted from mosquito salivary glands. To understand this phenomenon the experimental data were analysed quantitatively. Through so-called agent-based computer simulations, it was possible to precisely identify the parameters that explain the experimental observations. The teams observed emerging properties of the collective migration, which arise because the movement of the individual pathogens is converted into elastic energy that is stored in the vortex.
press release from University Hospital Heidelberg
↗ in german: / https://www.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/newsroom/malaria-parasiten-machen-wirbel/
↗ in english: / https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/de/newsroom/malaria-parasites-form-vortices
Publication:
Patra P, Beyer K, Jaiswal A, Battista A, Rohr K, Frischknecht F, Schwarz US. Collective migration reveals mechanical flexibility of malaria parasites.
Nature Physics, 18, 586-594, 2022.