ANDREEA ROBU^#, LĂCRĂMIOARA STOICU-TIVADAR

Politehnica University of Timisoara, 2, Vasile Pârvan Blvd, Timișoara, Romania

Understanding the evolution of multicellular systems near biocompatible materials is important both for the in vitro creation of implantable tissue constructs and for understanding tumor invasiveness. We have developed the SIMMMC (SIMulation using Metropolis Monte Carlo method) application for modeling and simulating the evolution of multicellular systems in the vicinity of biomaterials. This application creates computational modeling possibilities for certain artificial tissue structures, as well as for the simulation of their evolution. The application simulates the behavior of a variety of biological systems using algorithms based on the Metropolis Monte Carlo (MMC) method. It takes into account the cohesion between cells, the adhesion between cells and biocompatible materials, as well as chemotaxis. The algorithms used by SIMMMC incorporate results of recent research regarding cell motility in three-dimensional systems made of cells and biomaterials. In this work, we present the functionalities and the architecture of the application, the activity diagrams and the implementation characteristics of the application, the user interface and representative results of simulations. The SIMMMC application and the proposed algorithms were validated by comparison with experimental data from the literature. Allowing to simulate shape changes of multicellular constructs in contact with biomaterials, SIMMMC might be a useful instrument for the optimization of in vitro tissue fabrication.

Corresponding author’s e-mail: andreea.robu@aut.upt.ro

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