VIRTUAL CELL MODELING OF CELL LOCOMOTION

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This is an excellent, well-funded project which would use the Virtual Cel1 to model cell locomotion. The fish scale keratocyte is used as the locomotion paradigm where the cell can move without shape change, thus allowing a simpler modeling. The forces at play on the cell during its locomotion have been mostly described: protrusion, adhesion and retraction. At least two of these can be accounted for by actin polymerization or depolymerization at the leading edge. This appears to be a good system for modeling since so many parameters are known. In fact, others have modeled motility with quite successful outcomes (e.g., Lauffenberger) and it has been useful for making predictions about cell behavior. This appears to be a very good application of the Virtual Cell approach. There may be some redundancy to work being done in other laboratories specifically focused on these questions as well.