Ph.D Research Scholars

About Research

Application of collective behaviour to targeted drug delivery:

Nature shows us some of the most fascinating social and behavioural patterns through the display of self-organisation. The coordinated motion of organisms to form a single collective entity is termed as collective behaviour or self-organisation. Examples of such phenomena include flocking of birds, schooling of fish, swarming of bacteria, and even, the intricate behaviour of humans in a crowd. If the social interactions leading to such behaviour can be mimicked, it is possible to implement the same using microbots to carry out drug delivery to afflicted cells and tissues.

Dynamics of active matter::

Active matter models involve particles that are able to propel by virtue of their internal energy. These particles are assumed to be indicative of organisms such as bacteria. The physics of a system of self-propelling particles in the presence of competing forces of alignment and repulsion is examined. Formation of novel spatial patterns such as ring-shaped mills and hybrid mills-clusters is observed. Dynamical analysis carried out through the study of chaos and synchronisation in the system shows the formation of weak chimera composite among the particles. A new state of weak chimera coined as ‘multi-band weak chimera’ with multiple synchronised oscillator groups is also detected. This study serves as an ideal case study for the DEM-based model used for the simulation of active dry matter.

Two species antagonistic interaction model:

Collective behaviour might occur due to a plethora of reasons such as the presence of danger or need for foraging or reduction in energy consumption or facilitating smooth movement in a crowded environment. Among these situations, the majority of animals portray self-organisation when subjected to predation. Especially in the case of fish, a rich variety of pattern formation is observed, such as mill, ball, fountain, split, and more. The physics underlying the collective behaviour in the presence of a predator is studied in the purview of self-propelling particles inside a confined domain. A novel force-based Vicsek model is utilised to simulate the interactions among the particles. It is observed that the information about the presence of the predator is passed from the afflicted prey to its neighbours, which then pass it onto their neighbours and so on. The signal intensity, however, is found to be diminishing with distance, which, in other words, means that there is a localisation of transfer of information. This study lays a groundwork for the development of a model that is able to simulate the interactions between a pathogen and healthy cells or between a drug molecule and the diseased cells.

Awards and recognitions:

1. Awarded the Prime Minister Research Fellowship in May 2019.
2. An article What determines the prey survival to a predator attack in a closed space: IIT Madras researchers answer published in IITM Tech Talks Link.

Publications:

1. Siddhant Mohapatra, Sirshendu Mondal, and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, Spatiotemporal dynamics of a self-propelled system with opposing alignment and repulsive forces, Physical Review E, (2020), 102, 042613.
2. Siddhant Mohapatra and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, 2019, Confined System Analysis of a Predator-Prey Minimalistic Model, Scientific Reports, 9(1), 11258.

Find me:

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddhant-mohapatra-0818
• Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Siddhant_Mohapatra2
• Email: siddhant@smail.iitm.ac.in