Speaker
Description
Cell migration through extracellular matrix (ECM) is fundamental to many biological processes, including development, immune responses, and cancer metastasis. However, this migration is governed by mechanical interactions that occur at the subcellular scale of individual collagen fibres, and conventional traction‑force methods treat the ECM as a continuum. To move beyond this, we introduce a framework that accounts for the complex global architecture of the fibrillar network to infer the subcellular‑scale forces imparted by a cell as it migrates through collagen in 3D.
Our approach combines high‑resolution imaging with deep‑learning models for collagen‑fibre skeletonization, cell segmentation, and displacement tracking. Using a mechanical model of the fibre skeleton that incorporates extensional tension, torsional stiffness at junctions, and drag forces, we solve a physics‑based inverse problem to infer the fibre tensions, torques, and forces applied by the cell. This discrete network formulation naturally captures non‑local, long‑range mechanical interactions that existing continuum approximations cannot recover.
This framework reveals how migrating cells coordinate forces across multiple fibres to navigate complex 3D environments. More broadly, it provides new mechanistic insight into cell movement and force transmission across diverse biological contexts.
