This spatial stochastic model can replicate the growth patterns of melanoma cells observed in laboratory experiments by controlling the "exclusion zone" around two simulated cell types as they grow and spread. An article describing the model was recently published in Scientific Reports.
Researchers from the University of São Paulo, Penn State University, and the University of Debrecen applied a modification of the Widom-Rowlinson model—a mathematical model that has been used in contexts ranging from theoretical chemistry to sociology—to try to determine which factors explained the pattern of cell growth seen in laboratory experiments.
Scientists could control the rate at which each cell type replicates, dies, and migrates, according to variations in the model's parameters. They plan to continue expanding their model in combination with data from real-world experiments on cancer cell growth. They believe that this combination of theoretical modeling with laboratory experiments can lead to additional insights into the factors that contribute to cancer cell growth.
