###Active droplet dynamics during collective cell migration
Project ID: 2228bd1055 (You will need this ID for your application)
Research Theme: Mathematical Sciences
UCL Lead department: Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology (LMCB)
Lead Supervisor: Jonathan Chubb
Project Summary:
During embryo development, cells acquire the different functions and characteristics they will need in the mature individual, for example becoming muscle or nerve or bone cells. The decision to become one cell type or another is usually explained in terms of the different signals that cells receive and the different genes that cells turn on. This project will explore a completely new process for how cells acquire their specific characteristics, based on the behaviour of groups of cells as partitioning active droplets.
Our recent data on cells undergoing motion as a group (collective migration) shows that cell groups migrate and grow until the group becomes a certain size, then the group splits in two. Initially, the cell group resembles a water droplet on a window, in which the surface tension of the droplet holds it together. However, as the cell group grows, the effect of its internal activity becomes stronger than surface tension: the cells at the “front” continue migration, while cells that split off at the “back” stop migration, and start the developmental programme. Our hypothesis is that the cell group behaves like a droplet throughout this process, and that its physical properties (not a specific gene or signal) determine when the droplet splits, and therefore whether cells enter the developmental programme or not.
The project will test this hypothesis, using a new type of microscopy called lightsheet imaging, to generate 3D movies of cell droplets under standard and perturbed conditions to explore different aspects of fluid behaviour, followed by implementation of 3D tracking approaches to monitor cell and group behaviour. Data will be iteratively compared with models of active droplets to test different hypotheses. Ideally the student will have a background in mathematics, physics or engineering. We will train the biology.