Microbes drive large-scale processes in human health, industrial applications, and the environment and have traditionally been sampled and studied at these larger scales.
However, the collective behaviour of microbes emerges from their microscopic behaviour and fine-scale interactions with one another and their environment.
Our research group uses mathematical modelling and quantitative video-microscopy to study a range of dynamic processes in biology – crucially at the scale of individual cells – with specific applications in bacterial motility, symbioses, nutrient cycling and flows around coral reefs.
News from Brumley Lab
Contact
For enquiries, please email A/Prof Douglas Brumley - d.brumley@unimelb.edu.au
Meet the academics and researchers from the Brumley Lab.
Academic staff
A/Prof Douglas Brumley
Dr. Douglas Brumley is an Associate Professor in Applied Mathematics and leads an interdisciplinary research group at the interface of mathematics, biophysics and microbial Ecology. The Brumley lab utilises mathematics, microfluidics and microscopy to study a range of dynamic processes in biology, including bacterial motility, symbioses, nutrient cycling and flows around coral reefs.
d.brumley@unimelb.edu.au +61383446534
Dr Vicky Waymouth
Dr Vicky Waymouth is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow working on an interdisciplinary ARC Discovery Project (co-supervised with Prof. Michelle Watt). Her work focuses on modelling microorganism interactions in the rhizosphere using fabricated ecosystems and microfluidic devices.
vwaymouth@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Pranali Deore
Dr Pranali Deore is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Mary Lugton Fellowship) working in areas of marine microbial symbiosis. She uses expansion microscopy, fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy and microfluidics to visualise the association between coral harbouring microalgae (Symbiodiniaceae) and bacteria.
pranali.deore@unimelb.edu.auGraduate researchers
Howie Zhou
Howie Zhou is a Masters student at the School of Mathematics and Statistics. His research investigates ciliary flows generated by coral surfaces in the presence of non-Newtonian fluids.
Olle Pontén
Olle is a PhD student (co-supervised with Prof. Madeleine van Oppen) at the University of Melbourne’s School of Mathematics and Statistics. His research topics include motility and chemotaxis of Symbiodiniaceae microalgae, in silico and in vitro studies using microfluidics, and modelling the effect of stressors on the coral holobiont.
Xinyi Yang
Xinyi Yang is a PhD student in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on modelling the navigation of microswimmers under the influence of fluid flows, external fields, and confinement.
Matthew Walker
Matthew Walker is a PhD student working in non-Newtonian fluid dynamics (co-supervised by Dr. Edward Hinton and Dr. Jesse Collis). He is particularly interested in applying these flows to geophysical problems and investigating how rheological intricacies govern the movement of lava, mud and concrete.
Amelia Keynton
Amelia Keynton is a PhD student (co-supervised by Prof. Michelle Watt, Dr. Vicky Waymouth and Prof. Berit Ebert). Her research investigates the role of organelle trafficking and plant cell wall composition in root-microbe interactions using Arabidopsis thaliana.
Rodney Dharma
Rodney is a PhD student at the University of Melbourne’s School of Mathematics and Statistics. His research centres around using analytical and numerical methods to model microbial motility, chemotaxis, symbiosis, and porous-type flows.
Sarah Brook
Nitay Ben Shachar
Nitay is a PhD student at the School of Mathematics and Statistics. His research is on non-continuum flows, exhibited by gases in microstructures and electrons in high-mobility electronic devices.
Peijing Li
Peijing is a PhD student who is co-supervised by Dr. Jesse Collis at the School of Mathematics and Statistics. Her research is on the behaviours of small solid particles in an acoustic field and the associated steady flows arising from the time-harmonic wave motions.
Rania Ismail
Allison Mertin
Allison Mertin is PhD student (co-supervised with Prof. Linda Blackall and the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney). Her research focusses on characterisation of the seed microbiome of Australian native plants; microbe-plant and microbe-microbe interactions and chemotaxis.
Antony Selvan
Antony Selvan is a PhD student whose research focuses on mathematical modelling of ciliary flows around coral surfaces, examining the effects on mass transport and bacterial motility.
Former group members
| Tristan Bunnage, MSc | “Miscible Viscous Fingering Subject to an Oscillating Injection” |
| Rebecca Rasmussen, MSc | “Impulsive breaststroke swimming at low Reynolds number, with application to Corixidae” |
| Shenru Duan, MSc | “Noise Influences on Synchronization of Flagella Through Hydrodynamics and Basal Body Coupling” |
| Xinyi Yang, MS | “Navigation of magnetotactic bacteria in complex environments” |
| Rodney Dharma, MSc | “Resolving Spatial Heterogeneity in Microbial Symbiosis” |
| Asher Pennicuik, MSc | “An Investigation of Active Particle Systems by a Combined Complex Networks and Dynamical Systems Approach” |
| Timothy Cooper, MSc | “Bacterial chemotaxis in multi-source nutrient environments” |
| Chris Darveniza, MSc | “Bumping bacteria: a model for dense suspensions of self-propelling microbes” |
| Angus Butler, MSc | “Ciliary flows of corals: An analytic representation” |
| Khaya Mpehle, MSc | “A fluid dynamic model for the coral’s ciliary flows” |
Mathematical Biology with A/Prof Douglas Brumley
Learn about mathematical biology with A/Prof Douglas Brumley from the School of Mathematics and Statistics.
Near-continuum gas flows to second order in Knudsen number with arbitrary surface accommodation
N. Ben-Shachar, J.T. Johnson, D.R. Brumley, J. Nassios, J.E. Sader
Journal of Statistical Physics in press (2025)
Hall field and odd viscosity in near-hydrodynamic electron flows
N. Ben-Shachar, J.T. Johnson, M. Madadi, D.R. Brumley, J. Nassios, J.E. Sader
Physical Review B in press (2025)
Near-hydrodynamic electron flow according to the linearized Boltzmann equation
N. Ben-Shachar, J.T. Johnson, M. Madadi, D.R. Brumley, J. Nassios, J.E. Sader
Physical Review B in press (2025)
Mass transport by ciliary point torques in flow
S.A. Selvan, P.W. Duck, D. Pihler-Puzović, D.R. Brumley
Journal of Fluid Mechanics in press (2025)
Poiseuille flow of a concentrated suspension of squirmers
T. Ishikawa, D.R. Brumley, T.J. Pedley
Journal of Fluid Mechanics 1003, A23 (2025)
Slower swimming promotes chemotactic encounters between bacteria and small phytoplankton
R. Foffi, D.R. Brumley, F. Peaudecerf, R. Stocker, J. Słomka
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122 (2) e2411074122 (2025) (arXiv preprint)
Escape motility of multicellular magnetotactic prokaryotes
X. Yang, M. Prakash, D.R. Brumley
Journal of the Royal Society Interface 21:20240310 (2024)
Machine learning driven image segmentation and shape clustering of algal microscopic images obtained from various water types
F. Nelli, Z. Ge, L. Blackall, N. Taheriashtiani, R. Henry, D.R. Brumley, M. Grace, A. Jex, M. Burch, T.-F. Lin, C. Bertelkamp, A. Willis, L. Gao, J. Schmidt, N.D. Crosbie, A. Zamyadi
Computational and Structural Biotechnology Reports 1, 100014 (2024) [bioRxiv]
Unique photosynthetic strategies employed by closely related Breviolum minutum strains under rapid short-term cumulative heat stress
P. Deore, S.J.T.M. Ching, M.R. Nitschke, D. Rudd, D.R. Brumley, E. Hinde, L.L. Blackall, M.J.H. van Oppen
Journal of Experimental Botany 75(13) 4005–4023 (2024)
The propulsion direction of nanoparticles trapped in an acoustic field
P. Li, A.R. Nunn, D.R. Brumley, J.E. Sader, J.F. Collis
Journal of Fluid Mechanics 984, R1 (2024)
Cutting through host autofluorescence: fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy for visualising intracellular bacteria in Symbiodiniaceae
P. Deore, S.J. Tsang Min Ching, D.R. Brumley, M.J.H. van Oppen, E. Hinde, L.L. Blackall
bioRxiv (2024)
Swimming towards each other: The role of chemotaxis in bacterial interactions
J.R. Seymour*, D.R. Brumley*, R. Stocker, J.-B. Raina*
Trends in Microbiology 32, 640-649 (2024)
Point torque representations of ciliary flows
S.A. Selvan, P.W. Duck, D. Pihler-Puzović, D.R. Brumley
Physical Review Fluids 8, 123103 (2023)
Structure of the streaming flow generated by a sphere in a fluid undergoing rectilinear oscillation
P. Li, J.F. Collis, D.R. Brumley, L. Schneiders, J.E. Sader
Journal of Fluid Mechanics 974, A37 (2023)
Frontiers of Mathematical Biology: A workshop honouring Professor Edmund Crampin
R. Araujo, D.R. Brumley, J. Cursons, K. Day, M. Faria, J. Flegg, D. Germano, H. Hunt, P. Hunter, A. Jenner, S. Johnston, J.M. McCaw, P. Maini, C. Miller, W. Muskovic, J. Osborne, M. Pan, N. Shahidi, I. Siekmann, M. Stumpf, A. Zanca
Mathematical Biosciences 359, 109007 (2023)
Chemotaxis increases metabolic exchanges between marine picophytoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria
J.-B. Raina*, M. Giardina*, D.R. Brumley*, P.L. Clode, M. Pernice, P. Guagliardo, J. Bougoure, H. Mendis, S. Smriga, E. Sonnenschein, M.S. Ullrich, R. Stocker, J.R. Seymour
Nature Microbiology 8, 510-521 (2023)
Simultaneous visualization of flow fields and oxygen concentrations to unravel transport and metabolic processes in biological systems
S. Ahmerkamp, F. M. Jalaluddin, Y. Cui, D. R. Brumley, C. O. Pacherres, J. Berg, R. Stocker, M. MM Kuypers, K. Koren, L. Behrendt
Cell Reports Methods 2, 100216 (2022)
Feedback loops between mathematics and microbiology
D. R. Brumley
Microbiology Australia 43, 32-35 (2022)
Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM): a non-traditional approach to study host-microbial symbioses
P. Deore, I. Wanigasuriya, Sarah Jane T. M. Ching, D. R. Brumley, M. J. H. van Oppen, L. L. Blackall, E. Hinde
Microbiology Australia 43, 22-27 (2022)
Pairwise scattering and bound states of spherical microorganisms
C. Darveniza, T. Ishikawa, T. J. Pedley, D. R. Brumley
Physical Review Fluids 7, 013104 (2022)
Rheology of a concentrated suspension of spherical squirmers: monolayer in simple shear flow
T. Ishikawa, D. R. Brumley, T. J. Pedley
Journal of Fluid Mechanics 914, A26 (2021)
Cutting through the noise: bacterial chemotaxis in marine microenvironments
D. R. Brumley, F. Carrara, A. M. Hein, G. I. Hagstrom, S. A. Levin, R. Stocker
Frontiers in Marine Science 7 (2020)
Generating Controlled, Dynamic Chemical Landscapes to Study Microbial Behavior
F. Carrara, D. R. Brumley, A. M. Hein, Y. Yawata, M. M. Salek, K. S. Lee, E. Sliwerska, S. A. Levin, R. Stocker
Journal of Visualized Experiments (155), e60589 (2020)
Bacteria push the limits of chemotactic precision to navigate dynamic chemical gradients
D. R. Brumley, F. Carrara, A. M. Hein, Y. Yawata, S. A. Levin, R. Stocker
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116 (22) 10792-10797 (2019)
Stability of arrays of bottom-heavy spherical squirmers
D. R. Brumley and T. J. Pedley
Physical Review Fluids 4, 053102 (2019)
Transitions in synchronization states of model cilia through basal-connection coupling
Y. Liu, R. Claydon, M. Polin, D. R. Brumley
Journal of the Royal Society Interface 15:20180450 (2018)
High-avidity IgA protects the intestine by enchaining growing bacteria
K. Moor, M. Diard, M. E. Sellin, B. Felmy, S. Y. Wotzka, A. Toska, E. Bakkeren, M. Arnoldini, F. Bansept, A. Dal Co, T. Völler, A. Minola, B. Fernandez-Rodriguez, G. Agatic, S. Barbieri, L. Piccoli, C. Casiraghi, D. Corti, A. Lanzavecchia, R. R. Regoes, C. Loverdo, R. Stocker, D. R. Brumley*, W.-D. Hardt*, E. Slack*
Nature 544, 498-502 (2017)
Long-range interactions, wobbles, and phase defects in chains of model cilia
D. R. Brumley, N. Bruot, J. Kotar, R. E. Goldstein, P. Cicuta, M. Polin
Physical Review Fluids 1, 081201(R) (2016)
Natural search algorithms as a bridge between organisms, evolution, and ecology
A. M. Hein, F. Carrara, D. R. Brumley, R. Stocker, S. A. Levin
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113(34), 9413–9420 (2016)
Squirmers with swirl: a model for Volvox swimming
T. J. Pedley, D. R. Brumley, R. E. Goldstein
Journal of Fluid Mechanics 798, 165-186 (2016)
Physical Limits on Bacterial Navigation in Dynamic Environments
A. M. Hein, D. R. Brumley, F. Carrara, R. Stocker, S. A. Levin
Journal of the Royal Society Interface 13: 20150844 (2016)
Flagella, flexibility and flow: physical processes in microbial ecology
D. R. Brumley, R. Rusconi, K. Son, R. Stocker
European Physical Journal Special Topics 224, 3119-3140 (2015)
Live from under the lens: Exploring microbial motility with dynamic imaging and microfluidics
K. Son, D. R. Brumley, R. Stocker
Nature Reviews Microbiology 13, 761-775 (2015)
Metachronal Waves in the Flagellar Beating of Volvox and Their Hydrodynamic Origin
D. R. Brumley, M. Polin, T. J. Pedley, R. E. Goldstein
Journal of the Royal Society Interface 12: 20141358 (2015)
Flagellar Synchronization Through Direct Hydrodynamic Interactions
D. R. Brumley, K. Y. Wan, M. Polin, R. E. Goldstein
eLife 3, e02750 (2014)
Hydrodynamic Synchronization and Metachronal Waves on the Surface of the Colonial Alga Volvox carteri
D. R. Brumley, M. Polin, T. J. Pedley, R. E. Goldstein
Physical Review Letters 109, 268102 (2012)
Oscillation of Cylinders of Rectangular Cross-Section Immersed in Fluid
D. R. Brumley, M. Willcox, J. E. Sader.
Physics of Fluids 22, 052001 (2010)
Cover stories
Click for detail.
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Squirmers with swirl: a model for Volvox swimming
T. J. Pedley, D. R. Brumley, R. E. Goldstein
Journal of Fluid Mechanics 798, 165-186 (2016) -
Bacteria push the limits of chemotactic precision to navigate dynamic chemical gradients
D. R. Brumley, F. Carrara, A. M. Hein, Y. Yawata, S. A. Levin, R. Stocker
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116 (22) 10792-10797 (2019) -
Swimming towards each other: The role of chemotaxis in bacterial interactionsJ.R. Seymour*, D.R. Brumley*, R. Stocker, J.-B. Raina*Trends in Microbiology 32, 640-649 (2024)