Related papers: Accurate chromosome segregation by probabilistic s…
Precise positioning of the mitotic spindle is important for specifying the plane of cell division, which in turn determines how the cytoplasmic contents are partitioned into the daughter cells, and how the daughters are positioned within…
Long-distance bidirectional transport of organelles depends on the motor proteins kinesin and dynein. Using quantitative data obtained from a fungal model system, we previously developed ASEP-models of bidirectional motion of motors along…
We construct and analyze monomeric and multimeric models of the stochastic disassembly of a single nucleosome. Our monomeric model predicts the time needed for a number of histone-DNA contacts to spontaneously break, leading to dissociation…
In a probabilistic cellular automaton in which all local transitions have positive probability, the problem of keeping a bit of information indefinitely is nontrivial, even in an infinite automaton. Still, there is a solution in 2…
The interplay between bacterial chromosome organization and functions such as transcription and replication can be studied in increasing detail using novel experimental techniques. Interpreting the resulting quantitative data, however, can…
The initiation of directional cell motion requires symmetry breaking that can happen both with or without external stimuli. During cell crawling, forces generated by the cytoskeleton and their transmission through mechanosensitive adhesions…
A novel mechanism for cell differentiation is proposed, based on the dynamic clustering in a globally coupled chaotic system. A simple model with metabolic reaction, active transport of chemicals from media, and cell division is found to…
A common type of cytoskeletal morphology involves multiple converging microbutubules with their minus ends collected and stabilized by a microtubule organizing center (MTOC) in the interior of the cell. This arrangement enables the…
The cell cortex, a thin film of active material assembled below the cell membrane, plays a key role in cellular symmetry breaking processes such as cell polarity establishment and cell division. Here, we present a minimal model of the…
Experimental studies of cell motility in culture have shown that under adequate conditions these living organisms possess the ability to organize themselves into complex structures. Such structures may exhibit a synergy that greatly…
Cell size control and homeostasis is a major topic in cell biology yet to be fully understood. Several growth laws like the timer, adder, and sizer were proposed, and mathematical approaches that model cell growth and division were…
The genetic material of a eukaryotic cell comprises both nuclear DNA (ncDNA) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). These differ markedly in several aspects but nevertheless must encode proteins that are compatible with one another. Here we…
Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (T) and natural killer (NK) cells are the main cytotoxic killer cells of the human body to eliminate pathogen-infected or tumorigenic cells (i.e. target cells). Once a NK or T cell has identified a target cell, they…
One-dimensional arrays of nucleosomes (DNA-bound histone octamers separated by stretches of linker DNA) fold into higher-order chromatin structures which ultimately make up eukaryotic chromosomes. Chromatin structure formation leads to…
As cells grow and divide under a given environment, they become crowded and resources are limited, as seen in bacterial biofilms and multicellular aggregates. These cells often show strong interactions through exchanging chemicals, as in…
Directed fibroblast migration is central to highly proliferative processes in regenerative medicine and developmental biology, such as wound healing and embryogenesis. However, the mechanisms by which single fibroblasts affect each other's…
Increasing evidence suggests that chromosome folding and genetic expression are intimately connected. For example, the co-expression of a large number of genes can benefit from their spatial co-localization in the cellular space.…
Controlling electronic transport through a single-molecule junction is crucial for molecular electronics or spintronics. In magnetic molecular devices, the spin degree-of-freedom can be used to this end since the magnetic properties of the…
We study two mechanisms for the formation of protein patterns near membranes of living cells by mathematical modelling. Self-assembly of protein domains by electrostatic lipid-protein interactions is contrasted with self-organization due to…
The proper sorting of membrane components by regulated exchange between cellular organelles is crucial to intra-cellular organisation. This process relies on the budding and fusion of transport vesicles, and should be strongly influenced by…