Coupled Mechanochemical Multiscale Model to Study the Growth Regulation and Morphogenesis during Tissue Development (Weitao Chen, UCR)

Growth regulation and pattern formation are two main problems in developmental biol-
ogy. How cells know when to stop growing at certain tissue size with specic shape is an important
question in both developmental biology and regenerative medicine, and it is still an unsolved mystery
in many systems. During the growth, tissues and organs always exhibit self-government to some
extent. Cells stop proliferation precisely when the intended size of the tissue or organ is achieved.
Meanwhile, dierential cell shapes in space are integrated to give rise to well-organized overall struc-
ture. Uncontrolled growth of the cells in tissues or organs will lead to abnormal development or
fatal diseases such as cancer. Therefore, developing an extensible predictive mathematical model
for exploring the mechanisms involved in the tissue development is signicant for understanding
the fundamental principles in developmental biology, with a broad range of applications from tissue
engineering to biomanufacturing and biotech industry. Experimental data suggests that mechanical
properties of cells and chemical signals in both intracellular and extracellular domains play critical
roles in size control and shape formation. Here we develop a multiscale, mechochemical coupled
model of tissue growth control. This rst-of-class modeling approach provides sub-cellular details
to both mechanical properties and chemical signaling during tissue growth. This model is applied
to test competing hypotheses in the eld to resolve the highly debated question of how tissues reach
their nal size, as well as how the tissue shape is determined simultaneously.