Realistic numerical image-based modelling of biological tissue substrates.
In collaboration with Prof. Rebecca Shipley and Prof. Simon Walker-Samuel at University College London, we combine advanced biomedical imaging techniques with computational modelling through a unified framework called REANIMATE (Realistic numerical image-based modelling of biological tissue substrates).
The problem.
Tumours are a group of abnormal cells that invade and grow into nearby tissues. These cancerous cells signal for new blood vessels to spread into the tumour to delivery oxygen and nutrients, allowing the tumour to rapidly grow.
Compared to physiological vasculatures, tumour blood vessel networks are structurally chaotic and dysfunctional. Moreover, their network architectures are unique between patients and so therapeutic efficacy differs between individuals.
As current clinical imaging methods are unable to make accurate predictions regarding treatment success, novel tools are urgently required to understand and engineer more effective treatment strategies.
Building virtual tumours.
REANIMATE is a pre-clinical platform which allows us to build 3D virtual tumours to perform computational experiments in order to study the transport of blood, biological fluids and drugs within tumours.
Predicting treatment response.
Through REANIMATE, our virtual tumours allow us to test the effectiveness of new cancer drugs and treatment strategies on a wide range of cancer types.
It is hoped that in the future, our research will enable patients to receive a more personalised therapy, tailored to individual tumours, reducing side effects and making treatment more effective.
— Erik Sahai, Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute
Publications.
Further general information can be found here.
Our initial study can be found here, with a further publication detailing the mathematical modelling.