Growth of cells in viscoelastic medium

Typically, the complex environments in which living systems reside are viscoelastic fluids. For example, the extracellular matrix comprises cross-linked, semiflexible polymeric filaments that respond sensitively to even small stresses generated by cells. This in turn relates to many aspects of cellular function, from cell spreading and division to tissue development. The mechanical feedback between a cell or cell colony and the viscoelastic environment can lead to interesting self-organisation processes that result in the emergent patterns. The objective of this project is to explore this feedback loop of viscoelasticity of environment on the growing cell and cell colonies. The emphasis is on the nonlinear responses of the viscoelastic medium, which, compared to the linear regime, can significantly change the strains and stresses generated by growing cells in a long-range manner. This may also be relevant for interactions of cells in nonlinear biopolymer media.

This project will develop a coarse-grained description that treats a viscoelastic fluid in a continuous hydrodynamic manner, using the strain tensor as a local field. On the other hand, we will describe a growing cell, cell colony or bacteria in the spirit of particle-based models, e.g. by growing spheroids, spherocylinders or discs [1,2]. The evolution of these shapes over time will be coupled to the hydrodynamic evolution of the viscoelastic surrounding.

The proposed approach is simpler and therefore more tractable than the two-phase model of active matter in a viscoelastic environment [3]. However, we believe it can provide valuable information on intercellular interactions in nonlinear viscoelastic media. We plan to collaborate closely with the group of Bittihn to use their expertise in particle-based models for growing and dividing cells.

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[1] Hupe, L, et al (2024) arXiv:2409.01959 [2] Sunkel, T, et al. (2025) Commun Phys 8:179 [3] Plan, ELC VI M, Phys Rev Fluid 5:023102