Measuring and Simulating Cellular Flows during Spindle Positioning

A cell is a complex fluidic environment in which many fundamental biological processes take place. One such is the proper positioning and elongation of the mitotic spindle which is crucial for chromosome segregation and asymmetric cell division, and involves the interaction of microtubule assemblies with motor-proteins and subcellular organelles. In a combined experimental and computational study, we use cytoplasmic flow measurements and computational fluid dynamics to argue that proper positioning is primarily achieved by the action of motor-proteins bound to the cell boundary.