513 Multi-Physics Modeling of Cell and Biological Tissues

The response of cells and biological tissues to internal and external stimuli governs their behavior in health and disease. Therefore, our ability to predict this behavior, both short-term and long-term, holds the promise of not only furthering our basic understanding of living matter, but the key to better diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Naturally, biological processes such as cell division, embryogenesis, wound healing, electrophysiology of neurons, active muscle response, cell migration, growth, remodeling, damage, and regeneration are governed by mechanical, physical, chemical, and biological interactions. Hence, as we strive toward robust and accurate predictive models of biological tissue behavior, it is imperative to consider this multi-physical coupling. In this context, multi-physics modeling represents a powerful and needed computational framework to integrate coupled processes in numerical simulations of biological systems.
 
The goal of this mini-symposium is to foster a vibrant discussion on the development of mathematical models, numerical methods, and computational simulations to study coupled problems of biological tissues. The scope of the models can range from the discrete cell level to the continuous tissue and organ level. Numerical methods may cover multi-phasic material modeling, particle-based methods, phase field modeling, multi-field approaches, and inverse methods for force inference (traction and stress microscopy). Examples of coupled problems include the modeling of mechanobiology, biochemical-mechanics, and electro-mechanics.