Deep collagen sea by Jorge Barrasa Fano, KU Leuven.
The image shows a 3D render of a simulation of an endothelial cell exerting mechanical forces in a collagen matrix. The cell geometry was obtained from a real confocal microscopy image that was segmented and meshed using tetrahedrons. The cell (of which the finite element mesh is depicted in yellow) displays a large protrusion at its front, typically used to exert forces on collagen fibers and to migrate. The fibers are colored according to the magnitude of the deformations caused by these forces (lighter magenta means higher deformations and vice versa). The render was done using the open-source platform Paraview.
