Cell States and Fates

Date: Tuesday 31 October 2023

Abstract

In multicellular organisms, stem cell differentiation, or specialisation, is critical for biological functions including tissue homeostasis, regeneration, and embryogenesis. Cell differentiation is often a multi-step process, with several intermediate states until a cell becomes fully differentiated. In circumstances such as response to injury, some cells are able to dedifferentiate, in other words move into a less differentiated state in their lineage. The process of differentiation and dedifferentiation can be modelled as a Markov process. In this talk, I will consider the mean extinction times for cells with various differentiation architectures and their biological consequences. I will then discuss an application of dedifferentiation in a multicellular model of wound healing.