Regensburg 2025 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 25: Statistical Physics of Biological Systems I (joint session BP/DY)

DY 25.6: Invited Talk

Wednesday, March 19, 2025, 16:30–17:00, H44

Centrosome positioning in cell migration and immune response — •Heiko Rieger — Department of Physics and Center for Biophysics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany

Leukocytes are the key players of the immune system in eliminating pathogen-infected or tumorigenic cells. During these processes centrosome positioning plays a crucial role for establishing cell polarization and directed migration, targeted secretion of vesicles for T cell activation and cellular cytotoxicity as well as the maintenance of cell integrity. Here, we give an overview over microtubule organization and dynamics during immune processes and present models for centrosome repositioning during the formation of the immunological synapse and during cell migration. We focus particularly on actin-myosin crosstalk, which is involved in regulating the polarity and morphology of migrating cells and encompasses mechanical interactions, mediated by crosslinkers and molecular motors, as well as cytoskeletal regulators. Based on recent experimental results we develop a computational whole-cell model involving dynamical microtubules that interact not only mechanically but also via signaling with an active cell boundary. A rich self-organized dynamical behavior emerges, comprising varying positions of the microtubule organizing center relative to the nucleus in the migration direction, varying migration characteristics and cell shapes, and complex migratory behavior in obstacle parks and microfluidic setups. Specific dependencies of these behaviors from parameters like the average microtubule length or the cell-boundary stiffness are predicted and compared with experimental observations.

Keywords: Cytoskeleton; Immune Response; Cell Migration; Centrosome Positioning; Microtubule-Actin Crosstalk