The collective motion of multicellular systems (a group of cells) on a substrate is a result of intercellular and intracellular dynamics coupled with the strong cell substrate interaction at different time and length scales. In this talk, a new multiphase complex fluids model will be presented to study this dynamics. The effects of microstructures of individual cells (cell membrane, cell cortex, actin polymerization / depolymerization) on the collective dynamics will be investigated. The cell substrate interaction and its role in directing cell motions will be studied, as well.

This is a joint work with Dr. Qi Wang.