How do phototactic microorganisms navigate structured light fields? 🦠 🔬

In our new preprint, we show that their motion is shaped by both the local light gradient and a memory of past illumination. Microalgae respond not only to the light they sense at a given moment, but also to the recent history of light exposure, which influences when they change direction and how they move through space.

By exploiting this understanding, we can design light patterns that guide their motion and confine them in specific regions, as shown in the attached video.

Preprint:
https://lnkd.in/dM9sChNm