  Based on a cellular automaton model the growth kinetics and the critical
surface dynamics of cell monolayers is systematically studied by variation of
the cell migration activity, the size of the proliferation zone and the cell
cycle time distribution over wide ranges. The model design avoids lattice
artifacts and ensures high performance. The monolayer expansion velocity
derived from our simulations can be interpreted as a generalization of the
velocity relationship for a traveling front in the
Fisher-Kolmogorov-Petrovskii-Piskounov (FKPP) equation that is frequently used
to model tumor growth phenomena by continuum models. The critical surface
dynamics corresponds to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class for
all parameters and model variations studied. While the velocity agrees
quantitatively with experimental observations by Bru et al, the critical
surface dynamics is in contrast to their interpretation as generic
molecular-beam-epitaxy-like growth.
