2023/08/16 by Johannes Flommersfeld, Flommersfeld, Johannes, Stefan Stöberl +7
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · #3D Printing in Biomedical Research #Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) #Cell Behavior (q-bio.CB) #Cellular Mechanics and Interactions #FOS: Biological sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Microtubule and mitosis dynamics #Subcellular Processes (q-bio.SC)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2308.08372
openalex publication_date 2023/08/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The migratory dynamics of cells can be influenced by the complex micro-environment through which they move. It remains unclear how the motility machinery of confined cells responds and adapts to their micro-environment. Here, we propose a biophysical mechanism for a geometry-dependent coupling between cellular protrusions and the nucleus that leads to directed migration. We apply our model to geometry-guided cell migration to obtain insights into the origin of directed migration on asymmetric adhesive micro-patterns and the polarization enhancement of cells observed under strong confinement. Remarkably, for cells that can choose between channels of different size, our model predicts an intricate dependence for cellular decision making as a function of the two channel widths, which we confirm experimentally.