{
  "abstract": "Cells coordinate through coupled dynamics, yet whether observed correlations reflect genuine coupling is rarely tested. Signal Associa is an open-source framework uniting six coupling methods with automated stationarization and surrogate testing. Benchmarking against six ground truth systems reveals a trichotomy of coupling regimes, each with a different best method: correlation for coupling carried by shared trends and cycles, Granger causality for linear stochastic coupling, and convergent cross-mapping for nonlinear coupling; agreement across methods identifies the regime from data. In 13 movies of natural killer (NK) cells across three colorectal tumor microenvironments, NK cells formed field-spanning coupling networks at a conserved rate; at matched exposure to tumor signal, NK cells around hot tumors were more globally integrated, and hot tumors with a more integrated NK network tended to attract more NK cells. In focal adhesions, stiffness strengthened vinculin-FAK coupling, most at protruding edges. Surrogates cut lagged-correlation false positives from 23-92% to about 5%.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Biomedical Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA; Health Research Institute, Michigan Technological University, Hought"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "M. Rostami"
    },
    {
      "name": "H. Choi"
    },
    {
      "name": "Y. Rho"
    },
    {
      "name": "N. L. Jeon"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "S. J. Han"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/15tkka5wfwt5v.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.10.21.760734",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.21.760734v1.full",
  "id": "15tkka5wfwt5v",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.21.760734v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "systems biology"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2403|Immune Cell Function and Interaction"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223289852",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.21.760734v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-21",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/15tkka5wfwt5v.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:29:16Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.10.21.760734",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.21.760734v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:systems biology",
      "subfield": "systems-synthetic"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Signal Associa: hot tumors elicit field-spanning NK cell coordination linked to their recruitment",
  "title_text": "Signal Associa: hot tumors elicit field-spanning NK cell coordination linked to their recruitment",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:29:16Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/15tkka5wfwt5v",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}