Preeti Sahu

Cell sorting (the spatial segregation of different cell types in a tissue or co-culture) is thought to play an important role in development and disease. Although sorting has been well-studied using simulations that model cells as rigid particles, recent discoveries suggest that in confluent tissues where there are no gaps or overlaps
between cells, both fluid-solid transitions and surface tension are strongly influenced by cell shapes and topologies. In addition, there are experimental evidences of correlation between cell sorting and differences in mechanical properties of cell types. For example- In 2D co-culture of breast carcinoma and non-malignant cell lines, carcinoma cells that are larger and more elongated, sort robustly from the non-malignant cells. Therefore, we seek to analyze the behavior of cell sorting in a confluent model of tissues. Using a 2D Self-Propelled Voronoi (SPV) model, we investigate the role of disparity in cell shape and size in cell sorting for bidisperse mixtures. Quite surprisingly, we find very minimal segregation for both the cases. Hence, simple mechanical difference cannot be the mechanism for cell sorting in vitro. We will conclude by discussing how particulate mechanisms of sorting fail to create sorting in confluent tissues.