Motility-Driven Glass and Jamming Transitions in Biological Tissues

Cell motion inside dense tissues governs many biological processes, including embryonic development and cancer metastasis, and recent experiments suggest that these tissues exhibit collective glassy behavior. To make quantitative predictions about glass transitions in tissues, we study a self-propelled Voronoi (SPV) model that simultaneously captures polarized cell motility and multi-body cell-cell interactions in a confluent tissue, where there are no gaps between cells. We demonstrate that the model exhibits a jamming transition from a solid-like state to a fluid-like state that is controlled by three parameters: the single-cell motile speed, the persistence time of single-cell tracks, and a target shape…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: NSF-DGE-1068780, DMR-1352184, 1068780, ACI-1341006, DMR-1305184, NIH R01GM117598-02, NSF-BMMB-1334611, NSF-DMR-1352184, 1341006, 1352184, 1305184, NSF-DMR-1305184, 1334611
• AP
  Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
• SF
  Simons Foundation
• GA
  Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
• SU
  Syracuse University

  Award: ACI-1341006
• RC
  Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: R01GM117598, R01GM117598-02
• DO
  Division of Materials Research

  Awards: 1352184, DMR-1352184, NSF-DMR-1352184, 1068780