Wanda Strychalski, assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, recently published a paper in the Biophysical Journal
In this paper, Strychalski and collaborator Robert D. Guy of University of California, Davis, developed a mathematical model to test outstanding hypotheses concerning intracellular pressure dynamics in cells.
Mathematical modeling is useful because pressure cannot be measured directly by experiments. The model was used to simulate bleb expansion in cells. Blebs are spherical membrane protrusions used by some cells, including cancer cells, to migrate in 3-D environments. The researchers simulated recent experiments of blebbing cells and showed that the complex rheology of cytoplasm is essential to explain experimental observations.
Their paper was featured as a banner item on the journal’s website.
The paper is available online.