Achieving targeted granulocyte differentiation through the use of interpolation and optimization techniques

Cellular differentiation is a complex process for which systematic design of control strategies has not been widely investigated. As a first step towards this aim, a control strategy for achieving a desired percentage of differentiating cells is proposed. A population balance model structure parallels the known granulocyte/monocyte differentiation pathway. Transition rate functions that characterize the movement of cells from one differentiation state to the next were identified from experimental data obtained via flow cytometry. An additional experiment demonstrates the efficacy of the proposed model and control strategy.