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Acini are small groups of cells that form hollow compartments and serve multiple biological functions in disparate organs, such as the lungs, liver, and pancreas. Acini have received much attention from oncologists as they are a common source of various types of cancer, particularly breast cancer. Recent work has shown that in addition to genetic factors, the local microenvironment of the cells in the acinus (in terms of both exterior chemical and mechanical cues) has important effects on tumor development.

This talk will describe three mechanics-based computational models of mammalian acini: (1) three-dimensional viscoelastic simulations to understand the effects of fluid and geometry in atomic force microscopy stiffness measurements of a tumor progression series, (2) large strain nonlinear elastic simulations of collagen gels to understand interactions between nearby acini, and (3) cell and basement membrane interactions in acini using multiple interface tracking simulation.