Cytoskeleton Dynamics in Lamellipodia of Crawling Cells
                 Christian Schmeiser (Univ. of Vienna)

Abstract: The crawling movement of cells is based on the dynamics of the
cell skeleton and, in particular, on the actin filament network in. The
observed cell morphologies and movement patterns are the result of
complex interactions of the cell skeleton with a number of proteins
responsible for controlling polymerization, depolymerization,
cosslinking, and bundling of filaments, as well as the contact to the
substrate. Another important mechanism is relative movement of filaments
caused by myosin motors leading to contraction similar to muscle cells.
The present status of a modelling effort will be presented, where
eventually all these effects should enter into continuum models for the
mechanical properties and the dynamics of the cell body derived by
homogenization of descriptions on the individual filament level. At
the present state, the model includes elastic properties of the
filaments, a simple account of (de)polymerization, the creation and
breaking of cross links, and a simple model for the mechanics of the
cell membrane.