Construction of mathematics to express three-dimensional morphogenesis

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project Area: Discovery of the logic that establishes the 3D structure of organisms
• Project/Area Number: 15H05857
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Research in a proposed research area)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Review Section: Biological Sciences
• Research Institution: Meiji University (2019-2020); Hokkaido University (2015-2018)
• Principal Investigator: Akiyama Masakazu 明治大学, 研究・知財戦略機構(中野), 特任准教授 (10583908)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 須志田 隆道 サレジオ工業高等専門学校, その他部局等, 講師 (00751158)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-06-29 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 現象の数理モデル / 形態形成 / 数値計算

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Morphogenesis with spatiotemporal changes in 3D is very complicated, and it was essential to express the phenomenon with a simple mathematical model for understanding. In this study, as a result, a mathematical model of cell movement in which cells are represented by particles, a mathematical study on the morphogenesis of beetle horns, a Phase Field type multi-cell morphogenesis model, a mathematical model on the pattern formation of epithelial sheets, and the midgut of Drosophila experimental and mathematical studies on the mechanism of left-right asymmetry have been published as papers.

Free Research Field

応用数学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究における最大の成果は，生物学の問題を数学の問題として定式化し，問題解決の糸口を生物学からではなく，数学から示唆できたことにある．また，生物の形態形成の正しい仕組みを理解できたことで，その仕組みの破綻として生ずる病気の発生メカニズムも同時に知ることができたことである．また，分野横断的かつ，多数の対象に対する共同研究が生まれ，研究コミュニティが生物学と数学の両方にできたことも大きい．