Single cell dynamics in viscoelastic polymer solutions

Biological systems often harbour viscoelastic fluid environment with abundant polymers such as mucus and extracellular matrix. Motile bacteria in viscoelastic fluids exhibit intriguing emergent phenomena, including large-scale coherent flows and flow oscillations. Here we study the single cell dynamics in polymer solutions, hoping to further understand the emergent collective behavior in viscoelastic bacterial active fluids and to help develop strategies for controlling these behaviours. We expect that the results will be relevant to bacterial colonization in physiological environments.