Hall 123

Numerical Modeling of Amoeboid Swimming of Cells

Madhav Ranganathan

IIT Kanpur

We study the swimming motion of amoeboid cells in a viscous medium using
numerical simulations. The model is an extension of a recently proposed
minimal model of swimming of cells through membrane deformations. The
cell is modeled as a closed membrane in a viscous medium, moving in
response to a prescribed periodic distribution of active forces. The
cell membrane resists bending and is also assigned a shear modulus to
mimick the cytoskeletal framework of the cell. Additionally, we impose
constant volume and surface area of the cell. The velocity field on the
surface of the membrane is calculated using the boundary integral
method, and no slip boundary conditions on the membrane surface.
Constant area and volume are imposed using Lagrange multipliers. We
analyze the role of shear elasticity and bending on the swimming motion.
In particular, we show how a large shear modulus can lead to buckling
whereas a bending modulus can lead to instabilities.