Name:Paosim
Description:Grid Computing Technology and cell proliferation modelling
Abstract:Our area of research is the study of the effects of treatments in cancer cells. We created a flexible cell cycle simulator including subsequent cell generations to achieve a full reconstruction in silico of the cell cycle progression under a variety of treatment effects. Unperturbed growth was modelled taking into account intercellular variability of G1, S and G2M transit times, quiescent cells and natural cell loss. The effect of treatment was modelled by “perturbation modules” associated to each cell cycle phase and cell generation, containing a submodel of the checkpoint activity in that phase. Upon input of a set of parameters associated to unperturbed growth and perturbation modules, the program reproduced the time course of cell cycling through subsequent generations, providing outputs comparable with experimental data provided by flow cytometry and the time-lapse live cell imaging. In order to achieve a robust rendering, a number of modelling options was explored and formal procedures of non-linear fitting with random starting values were implemented. The high requirement of time-machine of the procedure cannot be afforded with ordinary PC. Our mathematical model is a standalone MATLAB® application and it is possible to split the procedure in several small jobs using a Grid computing infrastructure.

Created:2012-04-13
Last updated:2015-12-11