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    Bioinformatics, Computational and Systems Biology

    Using an Active-Gel Field Theory to Describe the Formation of Spheroids and Toroids in Collagen

    (A-26) Using an Active-Gel Field Theory to Describe the Formation of Spheroids and Toroids in Collagen

    Thursday, October 12, 2023
    9:30 AM – 10:30 AM PDT
    Location: Exhibit Hall - Row A - Poster # 26

      Presenting Author(s)

    • Katerina Krstanovic, BS

      Researcher
      University of South Carolina
      Arlington, Massachusetts, United States

      • Primary Investigator(s)

    • MU

      Mark Uline

      Program Director, Biomedical Engineering; Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering
      University of South Carolina, United States

    Introduction:: Cell migration is a biological process that is heavily involved in the organization of tissues in the body. In recent years, researchers have been attempting to replicate toroidal and spheroidal formations during cell migration for a variety of biological and medical applications, the most notable being for tissue engineering purposes. Effective computational modeling of cell migration is necessary to understand its mechanisms. Notable models that have been constructed include the liquid-crystal model, in which cells are treated as oriented crystals in gel samples.

    Materials and Methods:: In the computational research I have conducted with Dr. Mark Uline, a thermodynamic model resting on the concept of Helmholtz Free Energy was proposed and tested in an attempt to accurately model cell migration. Variational calculus, G-Fortran programming, and Paraview were utilized to identify necessary minima, calculate required values, and visualize cell behavior, respectively.

    Results, Conclusions, and Discussions:: The results of the cell density and total polarization field parameters when the program was executed demonstrate cell behavior that is consistent with that documented in scientific literature. Ultimately, these findings indicate that Helmholtz Free Energy is an efficient predictor of toroidal and spheroidal formation during cell migration. However, further research is necessary to understand the physical dynamics of this process.

    Acknowledgements (Optional): :

    References (Optional): :