Berlin 2015 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 16: Posters: Cell adhesion, mechanics and migration
BP 16.12: Poster
Monday, March 16, 2015, 17:30–19:30, Poster A
Unbiased analysis of superstatistics in tumor cell migration — •Christoph Mark, Claus Metzner, Julian Steinwachs, and Ben Fabry — FAU University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Department of Physics, Biophysics Group
We present experimental data showing that migrating tumor cells exhibit highly heterogeneous dynamics - in time as well as across the ensemble. Successive steps ut→ of the cell’s trajectory can locally be described as a discrete persistent random walk, with ut→ = q ut−1→ + a єt→, however, the persistence q and the migratory activity a change over longer timescales. These superstatistical changes can in turn be described by another stochastic process (q(t),a(t)), leading to a hierarchical probabilistic model. We describe the superstatistical process as an uncorrelated random walk and infer its parameters from measured cell trajectories with an unbiased Bayesian inference approach using an advanced Hamiltonian Monte Carlo method. This method allows for reliable probabilistic inference without further prior assumptions. We apply our method to data from migrating tumor cells on planar surfaces with and without fibronectin coating, and in 3D collagen matrices. The resulting joint distribution and temporal correlations of the superstatistical parameters show distinct and characteristic features depending on the dimensionality and adhesiveness of the environment.