Cell Behavior
We propose a kind of reaction-diffusion equations for cell differentiation, which exhibits the Turing instability. If the diffusivity of some variables is set to be infinity, we get coupled competitive reaction-diffusion equations with a…
Lateral inhibition resulting from a double-negative feedback loop underlies the assignment of different fates to cells in many developmental processes. Previous studies have shown that the presence of time delays in models of lateral…
We study a stochastic model for tumor cell growth with both multiplicative and additive colored noise as well as a non-zero cross-correlations in between. Whereas the death rate within the logistic model is altered by a deterministic term…
Cells can show not only spontaneous movement but also tactic responses to environmental signals. Since the former can be regarded as the basis to realize the latter, playing essential roles in various cellular functions, it is important to…
We present a simple and generic theoretical description of actin-based motility, where polymerization of filaments maintains propulsion. The dynamics is driven by polymerization kinetics at the filaments' free ends, crosslinking of the…
Bacterial growth environment strongly influences the efficacy of antibiotic treatment, with slow growth often being associated with decreased susceptibility. Yet in many cases the connection between antibiotic susceptibility and pathogen…
We study chemotaxis of a single {\sl E.coli} bacterium in a medium where the nutrient chemical is also undergoing diffusion and its concentration has the form of a Gaussian whose width increases with time. We measure the average first…
A comprehensive approach to cellular differentiation in cyanobacteria is developed. To this aim, the process of heterocyst cell formation is studied under a systems biology point of view. By relying on statistical physics techniques, we…
We present a single, unified, multi-scale model to study the attachment\detachment dynamics of two deforming, near spherical cells, coated with binding ligands and subject to a slow, homogeneous shear flow in a viscous fluid medium. The…
The cell membrane deforms during endocytosis to surround extracellular material and draw it into the cell. Experiments on endocytosis in yeast all agree that (i) actin polymerizes into a network of filaments exerting active forces on the…
DNA replication in Xenopus laevis is extremely reliable, failing to complete before cell division no more than once in 10,000 times; yet replication origins sites are located and initiated stochastically. Using a model based on 1d theories…
How cells maintain a stable size has fascinated scientists since the beginning of modern biology, but has remained largely mysterious. Recently, however, the ability to analyze single bacteria in real time has provided new, important…
Microbial migration towards a trichloroethene (TCE) dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) could facilitate the bioaugmentation of TCE DNAPL source zones. This study characterized the motility of the Geobacter dechlorinators in a TCE to…
Most of our understanding of bacterial chemotaxis comes from studies of Escherichia coli. However, recent evidence suggests significant departures from the E. coli paradigm in other bacterial species. This variation may stem from different…
We investigate the intergenerational shape dynamics of single Caulobacter crescentus cells using a novel combination of imaging techniques and theoretical modeling. We determine the dynamics of cell pole-to-pole lengths, cross-sectional…
Glioma is the most common form of primary brain tumor. Demographically, the risk of occurrence increases until old age. Here we present a novel computational model to reproduce the probability of glioma incidence across the lifespan.…
Most sensory cells use cross-membrane chemoreceptors to detect chemical signals in the environment. The biochemical properties and spatial organization of chemoreceptors play important roles in achieving and maintaining sensitivity and…
The mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) family of proteins is involved in regulating cellular fate activities such as proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. Their fundamental importance has attracted considerable attention on…
The precise mechanism that causes HIV infection to progress to AIDS is still unknown. This paper presents a mathematical model which is able to predict the entire trajectory of the HIV/AIDS dynamics, then a possible explanation for this…
In a well-stirred system undergoing chemical reactions, fluctuations in the reaction propensities are approximately captured by the corresponding chemical Langevin equation. Within this context, we discuss in this work how the Kramers…