Berlin 2018 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 37: Active Matter (joint session BP/CPP/DY)

BP 37.4: Vortrag

Freitag, 16. März 2018, 10:15–10:30, H 1058

A continuum model to study coordination of tissue growth — •Maryam Aliee, Damir Vurnek, Sara Kaliman, and Ana-Sunčana Smith — Cluster of Excellence: Engineering of Advanced Materials, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg

Living organisms represent fascinating and precise structures. It is still a big challenge to understand the mechanisms though which cells interact with each other and the environment to form reproducible patterns. We analyze how tissue growth is controlled by cell properties putting together a theoretical model and quantitative analysis of experiments. We measure carefully growth properties of a single-layered epithelium, cultured MDCK cells. In these experiments a group of several cells grows to a bigger colony. We observe the density of cells increases and a bulk region with a high constant density is established in the center, surrounded by the edge where cell density decreases. Our results demonstrate a gradual transition from an early exponential growth to a non-linear regime when growth speed increases with colony size.

We develop a continuum model to take into account cell mechanics and growth to study dynamics of tissues. We consider balance of cell number and forces for viscoelastic materials modified by active terms coming from cell division and apoptosis. We solve the equations with analytical and numerical methods. Our results show establishment of bulk and edge regions independent of many details. We study how the dynamics of the colony is controlled by cell characteristics and their interactions with surroundings. Remarkably, our model reproduces the nontrivial properties of MDCK growth in different experiments.