Embryonic stem cell patterning during the formation of embryoid body: An application of a novel Agent-based Biomedical Modeling framework

Qi Mi, University of Pittsburgh

The embryonic stem cells can be induced to differentiate into embryoid bodies by aggregating 1000 undifferentiated ES cells into hanging drop culture systems. The ES cells proliferate and differentiate, giving rise to the 3 grem layers - endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm, arranged in a specific pattern within the embryoid body structure. In this talk, I will present a new Agent-based Modeling (ABM) framework: SPARK recently developed in our center and how it is applied to model such spatio-temporal patterning of the undifferentiated ES cells.

This is a joint work with Ipsita Banerjee and Alexey Solovyev.