Point Processes and Stem Cell Differentiation

Benjamin Eltzner and Carina Wollnik (Univ. Göttingen)

Abstract:
We review the differentiation of adult human bone marrow stem cells on
gels of different rigidity. Actin stress fibers, mainly composed of
actin filaments, myosin motorproteins and cross-linking proteins are one
of the main force sensors of cells. Therefore, the structures they form
reflect gel rigidity. In general, stress fibers align along the cell's
elongation axis. In terms of a line segment process, this can partly be
explained by a domain boundary effect. However, stress fiber alignment
exceeds a pure boundary effect and we present three types of ordering
effects, whose relevance for the model will be estimated using Markov
Chain Monte Carlo methods.