  We consider the motion of red blood cells and other non-spherical
microcapsules dilutely suspended in a simple shear flow. Our analysis indicates
that depending on the viscosity, membrane elasticity, geometry and shear rate,
the particle exhibits either tumbling, tank-treading of the membrane about the
viscous interior with periodic oscillations of the orientation angle, or
intermittent behavior in which the two modes occur alternately. For red blood
cells, we compute the complete phase diagram and identify a novel
tank-treading-to-tumbling transition at low shear rates. Observations of such
motions coupled with our theoretical framework may provide a sensitive means of
assessing capsule properties.

Soft Condensed Matter