Cells sense and respond to topographical, chemical, and mechanical characteristics of their substrate. Engineered substrates are increasingly being developed that exploit these physical attributes to direct cell responses and therefore control cell behavior toward desired applications.
There are very few methods available for robust and accurate modeling that can predict cell deformations and force propagations along the cell media. Here, we developed a unifying computational framework to create a multi-component cell model to predict cell behavior. The model which we call it “virtual cell model” has the capability to predict changes in whole cell and its nucleus characteristics [1]. The changes in shape and elongation of the membranes, force distribution, and chromatin contact map are predicted on a range of substrates.
Modeling data are correlated with cell culture experimental outcomes in order to confirm the applicability of the model and demonstrating the ability to reflect the qualitative behavior of mesenchymal stem cells [1,2].
Here we show controlled cell migration is possible just by proper design of the substrate.