Giuseppe SciuméUniversité de Bordeaux
Le 18 sept. 2025
Titre : Poromechanics of living matter: from modeling of cell aggregates to vascularized tissues and tumors
Résumé :
Poromechanics provides a rigorous theoretical and computational framework to describe the interplay between fluid transport and solid mechanics in complex, heterogeneous media. This seminar will explore how such a framework can be extended to living matter, with applications ranging from cell aggregates to vascularized tissues and tumors. The presentation will proceed pedagogically: starting from the fundamental modeling hypotheses, the governing equations together with the necessary constitutive relationships will be introduced, followed by their weak form required for finite element implementation in FEniCS.
At the scale of multicellular aggregates (100-200 μm), poromechanical models shed light on how oxygen availability and stresses within the constituents regulate growth, necrosis, and collective dynamics. Microfluidic experiments based on Cellular Capsule Technology (CCT) and micropipette aspiration are used to validate these models. At the tissue scale, an original reactive bi-compartment approach is presented to capture the coupling between vascular perfusion, nutrient transport, and mechanical strain and stress, which are key regulators of both physiological and pathological processes. Tumors emerge as a paradigmatic case, where abnormal vascularization, altered tissue porosity and transport properties, and stress generation jointly influence invasion and therapeutic resistance.
Finally, the seminar will highlight recent advances towards digital twins of cancer at the organ scale, with a particular focus on glioblastoma. By integrating poromechanical models with experimental data, these digital twins aim to provide predictive tools for understanding tumor progression and for exploring personalized therapeutic strategies. Overall, the seminar illustrates how poromechanics bridges scales and disciplines, offering new mathematical insights into the multiscale regulation of living systems.
