Source: University of Toronto
Date: August 5, 2009
Summary:
Researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a new model that explains how cells communicate and specifically reveals how blood cells "talk" to each other. The result could help transform treatments for diseases such as leukemia.
The paper, published online by the journal Molecular Systems Biology, details how a team led by Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Bioengineering Professor Peter Zandstra (Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry) revealed a new mathematical model that links functional cellular assays to specific model outputs, defines cell-level kinetic parameters such as cell cycle rates and self-renewal probabilities as functions of culture variables, and simulates feedback regulation using cell-cell interaction networks.
