Staff profile

Dr. Gökberk Kabacaoğlu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Durham University. He develops fast and accurate computational methods for simulating complex fluids, combining numerical algorithms, machine learning and high-performance computing. His work has applications in biological fluid dynamics and the design of microfluidic devices for cell sorting. 

He joined Durham in 2025, having previously held an Assistant Professorship in Mechanical Engineering at Bilkent University. Before this, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Biology in New York. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2019 and his undergraduate degree from Bilkent University in 2014. 

Research

His research explores how cells, droplets and other deformable structures interact with flowing fluids. He develops simulation methods that combine boundary-integral formulations with machine learning and GPU computing to make these problems more computationally tractable. Applications include microfluidic cell sorting, droplet flows in confined channels, microscopic swimmers and fluid motion within cells. He also contributes to open-source scientific software, including Ves-Net, a neural-network-accelerated solver for vesicle suspensions, and SkellySim, a simulation framework for biophysical flows. 

Teaching and academic service

At Durham, he teaches Parallel Scientific Computing and Reinforcement Learning and Game Theory. He received the Department of Computer Science’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2025. He also chairs the Engineering Domain Panel for EuroHPC Joint Undertaking Regular Access calls and contributes to international conferences and peer review in scientific computing and fluid dynamics.

• Fast numerical algorithms
• Machine learning for scientific simulations
• Complex flows
• Data-driven models for biological applications

Journal Article

• How morphology affects optical trapping of red blood cells in health and disease
  
  Erdem, E., Kabacaoglu, G., Volpe, G., Callegari, A., & Biancofiore, L. (2026). How morphology affects optical trapping of red blood cells in health and disease. Biomedical Optics Express, 17(10), 5355-5372. https://doi.org/10.1364/BOE.609102
• Isogeometric boundary element formulation to simulate droplets in microchannel confinement
  
  Gumus, O. C., Kabacaoglu, G., & Cetin, B. (2025). Isogeometric boundary element formulation to simulate droplets in microchannel confinement. International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, 35(6), 1965-1982. https://doi.org/10.1108/hff-08-2024-0641
• Mapping flagellated swimmers to surface-slip driven swimmers
  
  Gidituri, H., Kabacaoğlu, G., Ellero, M., & Balboa Usabiaga, F. (2024). Mapping flagellated swimmers to surface-slip driven swimmers. Journal of Computational Physics, 510, Article 113081. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2024.113081
• Self-organized intracellular twisters
  
  Dutta, S., Farhadifar, R., Lu, W., Kabacaoğlu, G., Blackwell, R., Stein, D. B., Lakonishok, M., Gelfand, V. I., Shvartsman, S. Y., & Shelley, M. J. (2024). Self-organized intracellular twisters. Nature Physics, 20(4), 666-674. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02372-1
• Laser ablation and fluid flows reveal the mechanism behind spindle and centrosome positioning
  
  Wu, H., Kabacaoğlu, G., Nazockdast, E., Chang, H., Shelley, M. J., & Needleman, D. J. (2024). Laser ablation and fluid flows reveal the mechanism behind spindle and centrosome positioning. Nature Physics, 20(1), 157-168. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02223-z
• Cross-stream migration of a vesicle in vortical flows
  
  Kabacaoğlu, G., & Lushi, E. (2023). Cross-stream migration of a vesicle in vortical flows. Physical Review E, 107(4). https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.107.044608
• Machine learning acceleration of simulations of Stokesian suspensions
  
  Kabacaoğlu, G., & Biros, G. (2019). Machine learning acceleration of simulations of Stokesian suspensions. Physical Review E, 99(6), Article 063313. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.99.063313
• Sorting same-size red blood cells in deep deterministic lateral displacement devices
  
  Kabacaoğlu, G., & Biros, G. (2019). Sorting same-size red blood cells in deep deterministic lateral displacement devices. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 859, 433-475. https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2018.829
• Optimal design of deterministic lateral displacement device for viscosity-contrast-based cell sorting
  
  Kabacaoğlu, G., & Biros, G. (2018). Optimal design of deterministic lateral displacement device for viscosity-contrast-based cell sorting. Physical Review Fluids, 3(12). https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevfluids.3.124201
• Low-resolution simulations of vesicle suspensions in 2D
  
  Kabacaoğlu, G., Quaife, B., & Biros, G. (2018). Low-resolution simulations of vesicle suspensions in 2D. Journal of Computational Physics, 357, 43-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2017.12.023
• Quantification of mixing in vesicle suspensions using numerical simulations in two dimensions
  
  Kabacaoğlu, G., Quaife, B., & Biros, G. (2017). Quantification of mixing in vesicle suspensions using numerical simulations in two dimensions. Physics of Fluids, 29(2). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4975154