Methodologies of dynamic cell injection techniques using FEM biomechanical modeling

Abstract

Real time simulation of deformable object is increasingly important to simulate the behavior of the biological cell and a key challenge of deformable simulation is to satisfy the conflicting requirements of real-time interactivity and physical realism. This paper presents methodologies for dynamic modeling, visual/haptic display and model validation of cell injection. We first investigate the challenging issues in the modeling of the bio-mechanical properties of living cells. We propose a dynamic model to simulate cell deformation mainly determined by the cytoplasm and the cytoskeleton. The cytoskeleton is organized as a tensegrity structure including microfilaments, microtubules and intermediate filaments whereas the cytoplasm is modeled as an homogeneous volume. Both structures are modeled by using FEM with viscoelastic Kelvin-Voigt elements. The virtual environment has been implemented with both graphic and haptic interfaces in order to facilitate training of biological cell injection operations.