CMCF takes on the formidable multiscale challenges associated with investigating complex cell fate systems using an integrated mathematical and experimental approach. We investigate how cell fate is controlled via several Biological Themes and their application to model systems in biology. We are studying the impact of cell fate on tissue and organ size, developmental processes such as in the neural crest, and stem cell differentiation. Crucial contributions from genetic and epigenetic effects, such as methylation dynamics, are taken into consideration. While the center’s projects focus on different (but interlinked) components of cell fate, they all emphasize emergent complexity of multiscale interactions using overlapping experimental and mathematical methodologies.

Underlying data-driven and principle-based multiscale modeling — and essential for challenging existing paradigms of cell fate — is the development of new mathematical methods and models. Through the CMCF Mathematics Core we are driving forward mathematical, computational, and statistical methods development in several areas. These include statistical inference, machine learning, and hybrid & multiscale modeling, which combine to provide the necessary tools to connect molecular and cellular processes to tissue and organismal dynamics.