Speaker
Description
How do many groups of organisms, ranging in size from micro-meter scale bacteria, to meter scale birds, form highly co-ordinated groups? One commonly observed dynamic is that of directional alignment of individuals. In this talk I will focus on alignment of elongated cells, with a focus on fibroblasts, which show particularly strong alignment in certain type of scars (keloid scars). To obtain a mechanistic, interpretable, model for the dynamics of cell position, cell orientation and cell shape we use an energy minimization approach. We analyse the resulting dynamics from two points of view: Computationally via a collective dynamics simulation, and analytically in a two cell setting. The combined insights shed light on the role of cell speed, cell deformability and supracellular actin cables in alignment dynamics.
Bibliography
@article{Leech_2025, title={A Dynamical Analysis of the Alignment Mechanism Between Two Interacting Cells}, volume={87}, ISSN={0092-8240, 1522-9602}, DOI={10.1007/s11538-024-01397-8}, number={2}, journal={Bulletin of Mathematical Biology}, author={Leech, Vivienne and Dalwadi, Mohit P. and Manhart, Angelika}, year={2025}, pages={23} }
@article{Leech_2024, title={Derivation and simulation of a computational model of active cell populations: How overlap avoidance, deformability, cell-cell junctions and cytoskeletal forces affect alignment}, volume={20}, ISSN={1553-7358}, DOI={10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011879}, number={7}, journal={PLoS computational biology}, author={Leech, Vivienne and Kenny, Fiona N. and Marcotti, Stefania and Shaw, Tanya J. and Stramer, Brian M. and Manhart, Angelika}, year={2024}, pages={e1011879} }
@article{Kenny_2023, title={Autocrine IL-6 drives cell and extracellular matrix anisotropy in scar fibroblasts}, volume={123}, ISSN={0945053X}, DOI={10.1016/j.matbio.2023.08.004}, journal={Matrix Biology}, author={Kenny, Fiona N. and Marcotti, Stefania and De Freitas, Deandra Belo and Drudi, Elena M. and Leech, Vivienne and Bell, Rachel E. and Easton, Jennifer and Díaz-de-la-Loza, María-del-Carmen and Fleck, Roland and Allison, Leanne and Philippeos, Christina and Manhart, Angelika and Shaw, Tanya J. and Stramer, Brian M.}, year={2023}, pages={1–16} }
