Louis González

Fifth year Physics PhD student at the University of Pittsburgh, working in Dr. Andrew Mugler’s Group. My research focus is on the study of spatiotemporal signaling in cells, in particular within the context of tumor cells during cancer metastasis.

My work uses techniques in partial differential equations, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, and numerical and complex analysis to model migration phenomena in cells. My current work focuses on the ability of cells to exploit oncoming fluid flow to sense the mechanical forces in order to express an upstream migratory phenotype, an apparent contradiction to the nature of tumor cells using chemical cues to travel downstream and continue the process of cancer metastasis.

My previous work included studying cell-cell communication in colonies and how this communication can be improved of cells use both quorum sensing and a positive feedback loop in signal autoamplification (“trigger waves”), how autologous chemotaxis (where cells secrete diffusible ligand that is then biased by flow and binded to surface receptors to determine fluid direction and migration phenotype) fails at high cell density, and how a hypothetical cell cluster could overcome said failure, something that is motivated by the physiological environment of a tumor.

Feel free to read the related selected publications below.