Uploaded November 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Head of Department prize winner in the ZEISS Photography Competition 2017.
This computer simulation shows the complex fingering instabilities of a self-propelled fluid pushed against a viscous fluid. The goal of this work is to understand the mechanical process of wound healing and tumour growth. When a tumour grows in one's body, lines of cancer cells may protrude out of the mass, detach themselves from it, and begin invading the body. This process is called metastasis, and cancer at this stage is extremely difficult to treat.
We find that this process shares strong similarities with a physical phenomenon called viscous fingering: when one fluid of lower viscosity (e.g. water) is pushed against a fluid of higher viscosity (e.g. oil) in a thin gap.
Acknowledgements: This work has been made under the supervision of Mr Thierry Savin, in co-operation with PhD student Mr Michal Bogdan.
Head of Department prize winner in the ZEISS Photography Competition 2017.
This computer simulation shows the complex fingering instabilities of a self-propelled fluid pushed against a viscous fluid. The goal of this work is to understand the mechanical process of wound healing and tumour growth. When a tumour grows in one's body, lines of cancer cells may protrude out of the mass, detach themselves from it, and begin invading the body. This process is called metastasis, and cancer at this stage is extremely difficult to treat.
We find that this process shares strong similarities with a physical phenomenon called viscous fingering: when one fluid of lower viscosity (e.g. water) is pushed against a fluid of higher viscosity (e.g. oil) in a thin gap.
Acknowledgements: This work has been made under the supervision of Mr Thierry Savin, in co-operation with PhD student Mr Michal Bogdan.
