skip to main content


Search for: All records

Creators/Authors contains: "Eddy, Christopher Z."

Note: When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
What is a DOI Number?

Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.

  1. Abstract

    Cell shape is linked to cell function. The significance of cell morphodynamics, namely the temporal fluctuation of cell shape, is much less understood. Here we study the morphodynamics of MDA-MB-231 cells in type I collagen extracellular matrix (ECM). We systematically vary ECM physical properties by tuning collagen concentrations, alignment, and gelation temperatures. We find that morphodynamics of 3D migrating cells are externally controlled by ECM mechanics and internally modulated by Rho/ROCK-signaling. We employ machine learning to classify cell shape into four different morphological phenotypes, each corresponding to a distinct migration mode. As a result, we map cell morphodynamics at mesoscale into the temporal evolution of morphological phenotypes. We characterize the mesoscale dynamics including occurrence probability, dwell time and transition matrix at varying ECM conditions, which demonstrate the complex phenotype landscape and optimal pathways for phenotype transitions. In light of the mesoscale dynamics, we show that 3D cancer cell motility is a hidden Markov process whereby the step size distributions of cell migration are coupled with simultaneous cell morphodynamics. Morphological phenotype transitions also facilitate cancer cells to navigate non-uniform ECM such as traversing the interface between matrices of two distinct microstructures. In conclusion, we demonstrate that 3D migrating cancer cells exhibit rich morphodynamics that is controlled by ECM mechanics, Rho/ROCK-signaling, and regulate cell motility. Our results pave the way to the functional understanding and mechanical programming of cell morphodynamics as a route to predict and control 3D cell motility.

     
    more » « less
  2. Collective cell migration in 3D extracellular matrix (ECM) is crucial to many physiological and pathological processes. Migrating cells can generate active pulling forces via actin filament contraction, which are transmitted to the ECM fibers and lead to a dynamically evolving force network in the system. Here, we elucidate the role of this force network in regulating collective cell behaviors using a minimal active-particle-on-network (APN) model, in which active particles can pull the fibers and hop between neighboring nodes of the network following local durotaxis. Our model reveals a dynamic transition as the particle number density approaches a critical value, from an “absorbing” state containing isolated stationary small particle clusters, to an “active” state containing a single large cluster undergoing constant dynamic reorganization. This reorganization is dominated by a subset of highly dynamic “radical” particles in the cluster, whose number also exhibits a transition at the same critical density. The transition is underlaid by the percolation of “influence spheres” due to the particle pulling forces. Our results suggest a robust mechanism based on ECM-mediated mechanical coupling for collective cell behaviors in 3D ECM. 
    more » « less