Related papers: Amoeboid-mesenchymal migration plasticity promotes…
Recent biological experiments have shown that certain types of cells are able to move in structured and confined environment even without the activation of focal adhesion. Focusing on this particular phenomenon and based on previous works,…
The migratory dynamics of cells can be influenced by the complex micro-environment through which they move. It remains unclear how the motility machinery of confined cells responds and adapts to their micro-environment. Here, we propose a…
Single-cell organisms and various cell types use a range of motility modes when following a chemical gradient, but it is unclear which mode is best suited for different gradients. Here, we model directional decision-making in chemotactic…
Cell migration and mechanics are tightly regulated by the integrated activities of the various cytoskeletal networks. In cancer cells, cytoskeletal modulations have been implicated in the loss of tissue integrity, and acquisition of an…
The transition between epithelial and mesenchymal (EMT) is a fundamental cellular process that plays critical roles in development, cancer metastasis, and tissue wound healing. EMT is not a binary process but involves multiple partial EMT…
The collective chemotaxis of multicellular clusters is an important phenomenon in various physiological contexts, ranging from embryonic development to cancer metastasis. Such clusters often display interesting shape dynamics and…
Cell adhesion and migration are strongly influenced by extracellular matrix (ECM) architecture and rigidity, but little is known about the concomitant influence of such environmental signals to cell responses, especially when considering…
Amoeboid cell motility is relevant in a wide variety of biomedical applications such as wound healing, cancer metastasis, and embryonic morphogenesis. It is characterized by pronounced changes of the cell shape associated with expansions…
In vivo, eukaryotic cells are embedded in a matrix environment, where they grow and develop. Generally, this extracellular matrix (ECM) is an anisotropic fibrous structure, through which macromolecules and biochemical signaling molecules at…
Epidermal growth factor (EGF), a potent cytokine, is known to promote tumor invasion both in vivo and in vitro. Previously, we observed that single breast tumor cells (MDA-MB-231 cell line) embedded within a 3D collagen matrix displayed…
A number of biological processes, such as embryo development, cancer metastasis or wound healing, rely on cells moving in concert. The mechanisms leading to the emergence of coordinated motion remain however largely unexplored. Although…
Invasiveness, one of the hallmarks of tumor progression, represents the tumor's ability to expand into the host tissue by means of several complex biochemical and biomechanical processes. Since certain aspects of the problem present a…
Tumor metastasis, traditionally considered as random spreading of individual cancer cells, has been shown to also involve coordinated collective invasion in the tissue space. Here we demonstrate experimentally and computationally that…
Tumor spheroids are in vitro three-dimensional, cellular collectives consisting of cancerous cells. Embedding these spheroids in an in vitro fibrous environment, such as a collagen network, to mimic the extracellular matrix (ECM) provides…
Mechanics and biochemical signaling are both often deregulated in cancer, leading to cancer cell phenotypes that exhibit increased invasiveness, proliferation, and survival. The dynamics and interactions of cytoskeletal components control…
Understanding tumor invasion and metastasis is of crucial importance for both fundamental cancer research and clinical practice. In vitro experiments have established that the invasive growth of malignant tumors is characterized by the…
Biological membranes constitute boundaries of cells and cell organelles. Physico-chemical mechanisms at the atomic scale are dictated by protein-lipid interaction strength, lipid composition, lipid distribution in the vicinity of the…
Multicellular tumor spheroids are an important {\it in vitro} model of the pre-vascular phase of solid tumors, for sizes well below the diagnostic limit: therefore a biophysical model of spheroids has the ability to shed light on the…
Phenotypic heterogeneity in cancer cells is widely observed and is often linked to drug resistance. In several cases, such heterogeneity in drug sensitivity of tumors is driven by stochastic and reversible acquisition of a drug tolerant…
During epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), epithelial cells change their morphology, disperse, and gain mesenchymal-like characteristics. Usually, cells are categorized into discrete cell types or states based on gene expression and…