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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 40: Cell Mechanics II / Cytoskeleton II

BP 40.5: Vortrag

Freitag, 13. März 2026, 11:00–11:15, BAR/0205

How to determine cell property distributions from high-throughput experiments via computer simulations — •Stephan Gekle — Biofluid Simulation and Modeling, Theoretische Physik VI, Universität Bayreuth

A central challenge in computer simulations of living cells is the accurate determination of model parameters based on experimental data. This challenge arises since cell properties such as membrane or cytoplasm viscosities are often difficult or impossible to directly measure in an experiment. The current paradigm in the field is to try to find a single ”optimal” value for each such property. This approach completely disregards biological heterogeneity and cell-to-cell variability.

Here, we will present a novel inference method which starts from the assumption that the optimal value of a cellular property does not exist and that biological reality must rather be reflected by a distribution of values for each cell property. We will show how to obtain such property distributions for a realistic and technologically relevant scenario of disease detection via red blood cell membrane alterations.

For this, we will present boundary-integral simulations of red blood cells passing through a microchannel setup corresponding to real-time deformability cytometry (RT-DC) experiments. We will show how the resulting large amounts of scattered experimental data can be combined with our efficient simulations to infer distributions of cytosol and membrane viscosities in a heterogeneous cell population taking full account of cell-to-cell variability.

Keywords: membrane and cytosol viscosity; red blood cell; flow in microchannel; boundary-integral simulation; statistical parameter inference