Project Details

Organisation:	Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC), A*STAR
Mentor:	Mr Wong Sum Thai
Members:	Lee Kai Yin & Melanie Fan
Project Title:	Computational modeling of cellular mechanotransduction

A. Brief Description of Project

Computational modeling allows us to study how cells interact and respond to the external environment.
Our project was to model an adherent cell by using a program called the Octave. The cell model would include the cell membrane, nucleus and cytoskeleton.

These were the steps we planned to take to create our final model:

1: Creating a model of a hemispherical cell (shape of cell when resting on a surface)
2: Creating a nucleus inside the hemispherical cell. Playing with variables so that we can move the nucleus to the correct position (i.e., in the centre of the hemisphere)
3: Inserting rods (which represent the cytoskeleton) into the cell. Shifting the rods up so that the origin is the centre of the hemisphere.
4: Test and find out which rods protrude into the nucleus. Chop off these rods and shift the rods to the nearest vertex on the mesh of the nucleus.
5: Test and find out which rods protrude out of the cell membrane. Chop off these rods and shift the rods to the nearest vertex on the mesh of the hemisphere.

B. Results

Due to time constraints, we only managed to complete Steps 1 to 4 but did not complete Step 5.

PS. For a screenshot of our final model, refer to the last picture in the gallery.

C. Reflection

Three content knowledge/skills that we have learnt

1. Programming language (eg., C++)
2. Concepts like: Cramer's Rule, Barycentric Coordinates, Intersection between a line and a plane, Intersection between a line and a 3-vertex triangle.
3. Deeper knowledge of the cytoskeleton of the cell as well as the behaviour and properties of cancer cells.

Two interesting aspects about our learning

1. Journal Meetings! A great experience and we actually benefited much from the 3 journal meetings we attended during our attachment.
2. The amazing fact that we could actually produce a decent final model since the both of us were clueless about computational modeling at the start of the attachment!

One take-away for life

1. By witnessing the power of teamwork, we understood its importance. More ideas are generated and things get done faster!

Gallery