Simulation Organogenesis in COMSOL: Deforming and Interacting Domains

Abstract

Organogenesis is a tightly regulated process that has been studied experimentally for decades. We are developing mechanistic models for the morphogenesis of limbs, lungs, and kidneys with a view to integrate available knowledge and to better understand the underlying regulatory logic. In our previous paper on simulating organogenesis in COMSOL (German et al COMSOL Conf Procedings 2011) we discussed methods to efficiently solve such models, predominantly on a static domain. Organ size, however, changes dramatically during development, and tissues are composed of several layers that may expand both together or independently. Moreover, the developing organ are typically embedded in an environment, and diffusional exchange with this environment can affect the patterning process. Here we discuss methods to build and efficiently solve models involving large deformation of composite domains in COMSOL Multiphysics.

References in corpus (3)

• Branch Mode Selection during Early Lung Development
• Simulations demonstrate a simple network to be sufficient to control branch point selection, smooth muscle and vasculature formation during lung branching morphogenesis
• Simulating Organogenesis in COMSOL

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Species-specific differences in follicular antral sizes result from diffusion-based limitations on the thickness of the granulosa cell layer
• Simulating Organogenesis in COMSOL: Parameter Optimization for PDE-based models
• Simulating Organogenesis in COMSOL: Image-based Modeling
• Simulation of morphogen and tissue dynamics