Team:XMU-China/Project FutureWork

FUTURE WORK 

The Role of Pattern Formation

Pattern formation is of fundamental importance in the coordination of multicellular behavior in a community or a large complex system. In physics and engineering, precisely control of the size of the parts and verification, validation and predictive capability of engineering system performance lay an important theoretical foundation for the application in actual engineering. ^[1] In biology, a vast range of intracellular and intercellular coupling mechanisms lead to the formation of patterns that govern fundamental physiological processes, such as embryogenesis, tumorigenesis and angiogenesis. ^[2][3][4] Also, the ability to engineer synthetic systems that can form spatial patterns is a critical step towards tissue engineering, targeted therapy and fabrication of biomaterials. ^[5][6] As the number of system components grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to coordinate component inputs and outputs to produce the overall desired behavior, which definitely restrict the application of gene therapy , tissue engineering and fabrication of biomaterials.

Perspective and Outlook

Based on this motivation and our experimental results of forming quasi-hyperbola at the present stage, we are going to conduct and adjust experiments according to a more accurate modelling, which expect higher accuracy. As to modelling, because nonlinearities and stochasticity arise naturally, tools from the fields of nonlinear dynamics and statistical physics are extremely useful both in the generation of design specifications and for careful comparison between experiment and computational model. ^[7] Experimental and theoretical analyses reveal which kinetic parameters most significantly affect ring development over time. Construction and study of such synthetic multicellular systems can improve our quantitative understanding of naturally occurring developmental processes. Then it will lead us to understand and explain nature better. Based on a more accurate experiment and modeling, we will consider increasing the communication between the cells, introducing quorum-sensing in order to build more complex mathematical shapes, exerting environmental stimulus. Such systems level bioengineering can synergistically target multiple pathways, symptoms or targets, such as multiple cell populations or organs creating the potential for innovative environmental and therapeutic applications. ^[8] Increasing specificity of chemotaxis is another important task of us, as our new-design aptamer, which is specific towards theophylline, and the related experiments are under way.

References

1. Oberkampf W L, Trucano T G, Hirsch C. Verification, validation, and predictive capability in computational engineering and physics[J]. Applied Mechanics Reviews, 2004, 57(5): 345-384.

2. Gierer A, Meinhardt H. A theory of biological pattern formation[J]. Kybernetik, 1972, 12(1): 30-39.

3. Chaplain M A J, Ganesh M, Graham I G. Spatio-temporal pattern formation on spherical surfaces: numerical simulation and application to solid tumour growth[J]. Journal of mathematical biology, 2001, 42(5): 387-423.

4. Boas S E M, Palm M M, Koolwijk P, et al. Mechanical and Chemical Signaling in Angiogenesis[M]. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013:161-183.

5. Abramsson A, Lindblom P, Betsholtz C. Endothelial and nonendothelial sources of PDGF-B regulate pericyte recruitment and influence vascular pattern formation in tumors[J]. The Journal of clinical investigation, 2003, 112(8): 1142-1151.

6. Zhang S. Fabrication of novel biomaterials through molecular self-assembly[J]. Nature biotechnology, 2003, 21(10): 1171-1178.

7. Basu S, Gerchman Y, Collins C H, et al. A synthetic multicellular system for programmed pattern formation[J]. Nature, 2005, 434(7037): 1130-1134.

8. Purnick P E M, Weiss R. The second wave of synthetic biology: from modules to systems[J]. Nature reviews Molecular cell biology, 2009, 10(6): 410-422