Modelling and simulation of cell migration in heterogeneous media

Cell motility is a complex process comprising, among others, cytoskeletal remodelling and growth, active force generation, chemical transport and reaction of multiple substances inside and outside the cell as well as on the cell membrane, anisotropic material behavior of the cell and of the extracellular matrix (ECM), and proteolytic cleavage of the ECM. We are working on an evolving finite element based computational framework that is able to incorporate models and methods for all the key features of cell motility. The approach exploits a mesoscopic point of view and aims at a comprehensive 3D model allowing for the simulation of cell motility at reasonable computational costs. In the presentation we will first sketch the overall framework, addressing all the respective models and methods, and will then focus on some essential subunits