According to a report newly released by Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry (CIAC), a group of scientists from the institute have developed a theoretical framework to prove the existence and quantify the Waddington landscape as well as chreode-biological paths for development and differentiation.  

The scientists studied how the cells develop from undifferentiated cells to differentiated cells from landscape perspectives, and they quantified the Waddington landscape through construction of underlying probability landscape for cell development.

In the paper they published later after the research, the scientists showed that the developmental process proceeds as moving from undifferentiated to the differentiated basins of attractions. The barrier height of the basins of attractions correlates with the escape time that determines the stability of cell types.

It was found that the developmental process can be quantitatively described and uncovered by the biological paths on the quantified Waddington landscape from undifferentiated to the differentiated cells and the dynamics of the developmental process is controlled by a combination of the gradient and curl force on the landscape. Besides, the landscape framework also quantifies the possibility of reverse differentiation process such as cell reprogramming from differentiated cells back to the original stem cell.

The scientists believed that the biological path of reverse differentiation is irreversible and different from the one for differentiation process, and they also found that the developmental process described by the underlying landscape and the associated biological paths is relatively stable and robust against the influences of environmental perturbations.

More information please see http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/04/26/1017017108.short