Related papers: Surface tension-driven boundary growth in tumour s…
Tumour spheroids have been the focus of a variety of mathematical models, ranging from Greenspan's classical study of the 1970s through to contemporary agent-based models. Of the many factors that regulate spheroid growth, mechanical…
We extend the continuum theory of active nematic fluids to study cell flows and tissue dynamics inside multicellular spheroids, spherical, self-assembled aggregates of cells that are widely used as model systems to study tumour dynamics.…
The precise role of the microenvironment on tumor growth is poorly understood. Whereas the tumor is in constant competition with the surrounding tissue, little is known about the mechanics of this interaction. Using a novel experimental…
One of the hallmarks of pre-migratory tumors is the progressive loss of compact morphology. To investigate how tumors may intrinsically regulate their shape during growth, we employ a three-dimensional (3D) vertex model of multicellular…
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…
Tissue surface tension influences cell sorting and tissue fusion. Earlier mechanical studies suggest that multicellular spheroids actively reinforce their surface tension with applied force. Here we study this open question through…
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…
It is widely recognized that reciprocal interactions between cells and their microenvironment, via mechanical forces and biochemical signaling pathways, regulate cell behaviors during normal development, homeostasis and disease progression…
The internal and external mechanical environment plays an important role in tumorogenesis. As a proxy of an avascular early state tumor, we use multicellular spheroids, a composite material made of cells, extracellular matrix and permeating…
Understanding how cells escape from embedded spheroids requires a mechanical framework linking stress generation within cells, across cells, and between cells and the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM). We develop such a framework by…
Growth drives cellular dynamics in dense aggregates including bacterial colonies, developing tissues, and tumors. We investigate the underlying physical principles emerging from the interplay of growth, steric repulsion, and motility in a…
In this paper, a two-dimensional model for the growth of multi-layer tumors is presented. The model consists of a free boundary problem for the tumor cell membrane and the tumor is supposed to grow or shrink due to cell proliferation or…
The problem of the onset and growth of solid tumour in homogeneous tissue is regarded using an approach based on local interaction between the tumoral and the sane tissue cells. The characteristic sizes and growth rates of spherical…
\emph{In vitro} experiments in which tumour cells are seeded in a gelatinous medium, or hydrogel, show how mechanical interactions between tumour cells and the tissue in which they are embedded, together with local levels of an…
The speed and the versatility of today's computers open up new opportunities to simulate complex biological systems. Here we review a computational approach recently proposed by us to model large tumor cell populations and spheroids, and we…
Cell spheroids are a widely used model to investigate cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions in a 3D microenvironment in vitro. Most research on cell spheroids has been focused on their response to various stimuli under static conditions.…
Collective cell movement, characterized by multiple cells that are in contact for substantial periods of time and undergo correlated motion, plays a central role in cancer and embryogenesis. Recent imaging experiments have provided…
It is well established that the mechanical environment influences cell functions in health and disease. Here, we address how the mechanical environment influences tumor growth, in particular, the shape of solid tumors. In an in vitro tumor…
Uncontrolled growth of tumor cells in confined spaces leads to the accumulation of compressive stress within the tumor. Although the effects of tension within 3D extracellular matrices on tumor growth and invasion are well established, the…
We derive a continuum mechanical model to capture the morphological changes occurring at the pretumoral stage of epithelial tissues. The proposed model aims to investigate the competition between the bulk elasticity of the epithelium and…