Apr 13 2010
The binding of cells onto other cells, or onto the extracellular matrix, is a vital but extremely complex biological process. Sometimes the adhesive bonds should be strong to provide structural robustness in tissues, while at other times they should be weaker to allow more movement.
Measuring cell adhesion is therefore essential for understanding biological processes including the internal spread of disease. Since measuring adhesion strength to a high degree of accuracy has proved difficult, YongWei Zhang and co-workers at the Institute of High Performance Computing of A*STAR, Singapore, Brown University, USA, and the National University of Singapore have developed a computer model aimed at making the measurements more precise.
“We investigated how a cell, which is coated with mobile receptors that can diffuse in the cell wall, would adhere to and detach from a substrate coated with ligands,” explains Zhang.
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