Math Biology Seminar: Nessy Tania

Directed cell movement, chemotaxis, is a part of normal physiological processes such as wound healing, immune response and embryogenesis. However, this pathway can also be hijacked during tumor development, allowing cancer cells to metastasize. In this talk, I will discuss an ongoing collaboration in modeling the regulation of actin cytoskeleton in mammary carcinoma motility. Specifically, I will focus on the role and regulation of cofilin, an actin regulatory protein that is upregulated in invasive carcinoma. Past results from a temporal ODE model of cofilin regulation and a spatiotemporal model of actin growth within the lamellipodia will be summarized. I will also motivate our current efforts in modeling and characterizing actin dynamics within the invadopodia, an actin rich based protrusion that has a matrix degradation activity that is often observed in invasive tumor cells.