DFG Collaborative research centre 518

In the scope of this SFB 518 subproject we examine the morphology of the keratin cytoskeleton in pancreatic cancer cells in cooperation with the Electron Microscopy Facility at Ulm University. Reorganisation processes of these protein networks regulate the viscoelastic properties of  tumor cells and can thus be linked to their migration ability in tissues. This project uses new methods in electron microscopy and model-based statistical image analysis to analyse the morphology of these networks with a resolution of a few nanometers. This analysis aims at establishing quantitative links between the morphology of the cytoskeleton and the motility of pancreatic carcinoma cells. Furthermore, we investigate macromolecular mechanisms of network reorganisation and their impact on network morphology by means of spatiotemporal stochastic models.

Current topics for diploma theses related to this project can be found here.

Contact persons: Prof. Schmidt and Sebastian Lück

The following figures show simulation results of a stochastic model that describes the evolution of keratin networks. The effect of different network evolution mechanisms on the structure of the networks can be analysed by varying the parameters.