Dr. Pushkar Lele, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, had his paper in the area of biofluid dynamics published in the 11th volume of Nature Physics. His research shows that although the flagellated bacterium Caulobacter crescentus exhibits identical forward and backward swimming speeds, paradoxically, the flagellar motor generates a higher torque in the puller mode than in the pusher mode. Implications extend to other fields such as biophysics and bionanotechnology.
To read the full paper, visit Nature Physics.