Mathematics Colloquium
WANDA STRYCHALSKI
Case Western Reserve University
Title: Mathematical Modeling of Cellular Blebbing Dynamics
Date: Friday, November 2, 2018
Place and Time: Room 101, Love Building, 3:35-4:25 pm
Refreshments: Room 204, Love Building, 3:00 pm
Abstract. Blebs are pressure-driven protrusions that play an important role in cell migration, particularly in 3D environments. A bleb is initiated when the cytoskeleton detaches from the cell membrane, resulting in the pressure-driven flow of cytosol towards the area of detachment and local expansion of the cell membrane. Recent experiments involving blebbing cells have led to conflicting hypotheses regarding intracellular pressure dynamics. A dynamic computational model of the cell in both two and three dimensions is presented to simulate these experiments, and results show that complex rheology of cytoplasm is essential to explain experimental observations. The model is also used to quantify intracellular pressure dynamics during different mechanisms of bleb initiation. Novel numerical methods for simulating cytoplasmic poroelasticity and membrane mechanics are discussed.