Cell Fate Forecasting: A Data-Assimilation Approach to Predict Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (Biophysical Journal)

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a fundamental biological process that plays a central role in embryonic development, tissue regeneration, and cancer metastasis. Transforming growth factor-? (TGF?) is a potent inducer of this cellular transition, which is composed of transitions from an epithelial state to intermediate or partial EMT state(s) to a mesenchymal state. Using computational models to predict cell state transitions in a specific experiment is inherently difficult for reasons including model parameter uncertainty and error associated with experimental observations.