BPCPPDYSOE21 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 24: Poster B: Active Biological Matter, Cell Mechanics, Systems Biology, Computational Biophysics, etc.
BP 24.20: Poster
Tuesday, March 23, 2021, 16:00–18:30, BPp
Simulating Cells Going Through Constrictions - A Cellular Potts Model Approach — •Miriam Schnitzerlein1,3, Felix Reichel2,3, Martin Kräter2,3, Hui-Shun Kuan1,3, Jochen Guck2,3, and Vasily Zaburdaev1,3 — 1Department of Biology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany — 2Biological Optomechanics, Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Erlangen, Germany — 3Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin, Erlangen, Germany
In the human body, many cells types regularly have to struggle through confinements. For example in the blood system where not only blood cells but also cancer cells may encounter capillaries with cross-sections below the cell size. One in vitro experiments to mimic and study such processes is using microfluidic techniques, where living cells suspended in an aqueous solution could be forced through a channel with recurring constrictions. By analyzing cell deformation and passage times we can learn about their mechanical properties. Ultimately linking the characteristics of the passage to cell mechanics requires a simple and tractable model. Here we suggest using a well known Cellular Potts Model (CPM), which represents cells as a set of adjacent spins on a lattice with cell dynamics arising from an energy minimization principle. The major challenge is to link phenomenological parameters of the model to experimental space and time scales and also to mechanical properties of living cells. Our first results demonstrate qualitative agreement with experimental observations and thus indicate the CPM as a promising tool to quantify cell passage through constrictions.