Published
Invasion of bacteria swimming upstream into microstructured devices
Cell Newton, 2, 100337 (2025)
Journal Front CoverFeatured ArticleMedia CoverageMicrofluidics
Biophysics · Active Matter · Microfluidics
Ran Tao
I study how living matter moves through complex environments — bacteria swimming upstream, dispersing biofilms, sorting by shape and length. My work spans microscopy, microfluidics, and active matter physics.
Ph.D. Candidate, Physics — University of Pennsylvania
M.A. Candidate, Statistics & Data Science — Wharton
Mathijssen Lab · Penn Biophysics
Selected work
Featured publications
Published
Nitric oxide promotes rapid development of motility to accelerate biofilm dispersal in Vibrio cholerae
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(49): e2526864122 (2025)
Co-first AuthorPNASMotilityBiofilm Dispersal
Published
Enhancement of bacterial rheotaxis in non-Newtonian fluids
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(50): e2417614121 (2024)
PNASComplex FluidsRheotaxis
Bacterial rheotaxis
How flagellated bacteria sense flow and swim upstream against currents in confined geometries.
Active matter in complex fluids
Collective motion of swimmers in non-Newtonian, polymeric, and structured environments.
Microfluidic ecology
Designing lab-on-chip devices to sort, trap, and observe single cells with high precision.