Daniel Gordon
- University of Strathclyde
My name is Daniel Gordon and I'm studying for my PhD at the University of Strathclyde in the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry. I'm originally from Glasgow and I studied theoretical physics at the University of Edinburgh, but biology has always been close to my heart. I've previously worked on computer simulations of biofilm development, but now I handle the real thing. Now I'm back in Glasgow where I'm part of the NorthWestBio Doctoral Training Partnership.
I study chemotaxis in artificial and biological systems. These include active matter colloids like janus particles that can swim up and down chemical gradients on the microscale all the way up to bacteria spores and motile species of algae like C. reinhardtii. My work is small and involves using microfluidic technologies and microscopes at the optical limit. I'm interested in any species of creature that can swim, granting us further insight into who and what is chemotactic, as well as artificial particles that generate motion in new, interesting ways. These active particles exhibit interesting and complicated behaviours individually and collectively that can inform us about how their biological counterparts do their thing.