CCAM Seminar Series

Speaker: Dr. Andreas Buttenschoen, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Title: “From Single Cells to Robust Clusters: Modeling Cell Migration and Cohesion in Complex Environments”

Abstract: Cell migration is fundamental to embryonic development, tissue repair, and disease. Cells must navigate complex extracellular matrix (ECM) environments and often migrate collectively as robust clusters. Understanding the mechanisms behind both individual and coordinated migration remains a central challenge in mathematical biology.

In the first part of this talk, I explore how cell-cell communication through attractant-repellent chemotaxis gives rise to effective attraction-repulsion potentials that maintain cohesive clusters. Building on recent work by Falcó, Baker, and Carrillo (2023), I use a local approximation of nonlocal continuum models to analyze clustering instability, cluster existence and size, and stability. I derive explicit conditions on cell and chemical properties that guarantee robust cluster formation and investigate how well the local approximation captures the full nonlocal model.

In the second part, I turn to the cell scale. Cells pull on ECM fibers to move, but dense matrix also acts as a physical barrier. Cells negotiate this by squeezing through gaps, deforming the elastic ECM, and degrading it via matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Using an off-lattice agent-based model, I explore whether these mechanisms suffice to explain single-cell invasion and multicellular coordinated migration. Simulating such systems at scale requires solving large friction-dominated equations of motion efficiently. I will discuss a graph-based preconditioning strategy for the resulting sparse, symmetric, positive definite systems and benchmark its performance against common alternatives.

Together, these continuum and cell-based perspectives shed light on how robust collective migration emerges from cell-cell signaling, cell-ECM mechanics, and individual cell behavior.

Guest Host: Dr. Michael Blinov

Speaker: Shivinder Singh-Bhagania

Title: “Induction of mismatch repair deficiency, compromised DNA damage signaling and compound hypermutagenesis by a dietary mutagen in a cell-based model for Lynch syndrome.”

https://academic.oup.com/carcin/article/43/2/160/6468907?login=false#342539720

Via Webex: https://uconnhealth.webex.com/uconnhealth/j.php?MTID=mdacf393cf6a2ee5314a3b76525ea5e57

Speaker: Rashmi Kaldera Dissasekara

Title: TBD

Via Webex: https://uconnhealth.webex.com/uconnhealth/j.php?MTID=mdacf393cf6a2ee5314a3b76525ea5e57

Speaker: Swati Pandey

Title: TBD

Via Webex: https://uconnhealth.webex.com/uconnhealth/j.php?MTID=mdacf393cf6a2ee5314a3b76525ea5e57

Speaker: Maya Abdalla

Title: TBD

Via Webex: https://uconnhealth.webex.com/uconnhealth/j.php?MTID=mdacf393cf6a2ee5314a3b76525ea5e57