"Reactions, Diffusion and Volume Exclusion in a Heterogeneous System of Interacting Particles"; Dr. Maria Bruna, University of Oxford (Gastgeber Prof. M. Burger)

ABSTRACT: Cellular migration can be affected by short-range interactions between cells such as volume exclusion, long-range forces such as chemotaxis, or reactions such as phenotypic switching. In this talk I will discuss how to incorporate these processes into a discrete or continuum modelling frameworks. In particular, we consider a system with two types of diffusing hard spheres that can react (switch type) upon colliding. We use the method of matched asymptotic expansions to obtain a systematic model reduction, consisting of a nonlinear reaction-diffusion system of equations. Finally, we demonstrate how this approach can be used to study the effects of excluded volume on cellular chemotaxis.