Using mathematical and computational modelling to study the formation of the primitive streak

研究主题：实验和个性化医学人类可以产生同卵双胞胎，人们相信胚胎可以分裂到原始条纹形成的时候，也就是受精后14天。原始条纹是定义左右对称性的第一种细胞结构，人们对大多数胚胎中防止第二条条纹形成的机制知之甚少。该项目受到对双胞胎比率非常高的人群中正在进行的人类遗传学研究的启发，并结合胚胎学操作和分子遗传学的最新结果，旨在利用数学建模来提出一种防止多个原始条纹形成的机制。这种方法将允许对该机构的动力学进行探测，从而为进一步的实验提供依据。在项目后期，可以应用其他建模方法来研究不同尺度上原始条纹的形成，例如使用基于逻辑的分子相互作用模型和细胞运动的介质模型。

Research theme: Experimental and personalised medicineHumans can generate monozygotic (identical) twins and it is believed that an embryo can split right up until the time of primitive streak formation, 14 days after fertilization. The primitive streak is the first structure of cells which defines left-right symmetry, and little is known about the mechanism by which the formation of a second streak is prevented in most embryos.Informed by on-going studies on human genetics in populations with a very high rate of twinning, and alongside recent results of embryological manipulations and molecular genetics, this project aims to use mathematical modelling in order to propose a mechanism preventing the formation of multiple primitive streaks. This method will allow the probing of the dynamics of this mechanism, and thereby inform further experiments. Later in the project, additional methods of modelling can be applied to study the formation of the primitive streak at different scales, for example using logic-based models of molecular interactions and agent models of cell movements.