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Snapshot from the memAgent model of tip cell selection and sprouting. Tip cells (pink), stalk cells( blue). Tip cells extend filopodia and migrate following the VEGF gradient to then fuse and form new loops through which blood will flow and oxygenate the hypoxic region.
In my current work here at Cancer Research UK, working within the Vascular Biology Lab, headed by Holger Gerhardt I am using a combination of computational modelling and biological experimentation to explore the cell-cell, and environment-system interactions, during the process of angiogenesis (blood vessel formation) in normal and pathological conditions. In particular we are investigating the very early stages of sprout formation, the selection of leading 'tip cells' versus following 'stalk cell' via Notch/Dll4 lateral inhibition (see Bentley et al. 2008 J. Theor. Biol. 250(1):25-36 and Bentley et. al. 2009, PLoS Comp. Biol.).