Modeling Self-Propelled Deformable Cell Motion in the Dictyostelium Mound; a Status Report

Abstract

A population of Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae changes its behavior dramatically upon starvation. Cell division ceases, and a developmental program which enables the cells to aggregate and exhibit multicellular behavior follows. Developing a computational model which can address collective cell motion and self-organization in the multicellular State is obviously of interest and will undoubtedly have applications to biological systems other than Dictyostelium. In this report, we describe our recent attempts to generate such a model and to thereafter apply it to some recent experimental findings.