In nature and technology particles encounter surfaces in a flowing environment. Sometimes the goal is adhesive capture, other times it is lubrication or controlled particle motion. The Santore lab creates a variety of patterned and non-spherical particles and studies these near surfaces in flow in a variety of projects and as models for the interactions of living cells with surfaces. For instance we produce rod-shaped silica particles that mimic capsular bacteria, and patterned spheres that undergo surface rolling similar to that of neutrophils, to name a few examples. Several of these projects have led to technologies for sensors and separation media.