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| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +title: "Agent-Based Simulation of CAR-T Cell Therapy Using BioDynaMo" |
| 3 | +layout: post |
| 4 | +excerpt: "This GSoC 2025 project, Agent-Based Simulation of CAR-T Cell Therapy, aims to develop a BioDynaMo-based model to simulate CAR-T cell dynamics and interactions. The goal is to provide researchers with a tool to evaluate therapy efficacy and identify strategies to enhance treatment outcomes." |
| 5 | +sitemap: true |
| 6 | +author: Salvador de la Torre Gonzalez |
| 7 | +permalink: blogs/gsoc25_salvador_introduction_blog/ |
| 8 | +banner_image: /images/blog/gsoc-banner.png |
| 9 | +date: 2025-05-14 |
| 10 | +tags: gsoc BioDynaMo c++ |
| 11 | +--- |
| 12 | + |
| 13 | +### Introduction |
| 14 | + |
| 15 | +I am Salvador de la Torre Gonzalez, a Mathematics and Computer Engineering student from the University of Seville, and a Google Summer of Code 2025 contributor who will be working on "Agent-Based Simulation of CAR-T Cell Therapy Using BioDynaMo project. |
| 16 | + |
| 17 | +**Mentors**: Vassil Vassilev, Lukas Breitwieser |
| 18 | + |
| 19 | +### Briefly about CAR-T Cell Therapy and BioDynaMo |
| 20 | + |
| 21 | +Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (**CAR-T**) therapy is a promising immunotherapy that reprograms a patient’s T-cells to recognize and eliminate cancer cells. While CAR-T has achieved remarkable success in blood cancers, its efficacy in solid tumors remains limited due to factors such as poor T-cell infiltration, immune suppression, and T-cell exhaustion. |
| 22 | + |
| 23 | +This project will be built on **BioDynaMo**, an open-source, high-performance simulation engine for large-scale agent-based biological modeling. BioDynaMo provides an efficient framework for modeling cellular dynamics and complex microenvironments at scale, making it ideally suited for simulating CAR-T therapies under diverse tumor conditions. |
| 24 | + |
| 25 | +The simulation will capture essential components of CAR-T behavior, including T-cell migration, tumor cell engagement, and the influence |
| 26 | +of microenvironmental factors like hypoxia, regulatory T-cells, and immunosuppressive cytokines. The goal is not only to provide the simulation, but also custom analysis scripts for visualizing and testing how therapy parameters influence treatment outcomes. |
| 27 | + |
| 28 | +### Why I Chose This Project |
| 29 | + |
| 30 | +This project represents an exciting opportunity to apply my dual academic background in mathematics and computer engineering to a highly impactful domain: cancer immunotherapy. |
| 31 | + |
| 32 | +My interest in oncology and CAR-T treatments deepened significantly after attending a course on Mathematical Modeling and Data Analysis in Oncology, taught by researchers from the Mathematical Oncology Laboratory" ([MôLAB](https://www.researchgate.net/lab/Mathematical-Oncology-Laboratory-MoLAB-Victor-M-Perez-Garcia)) team at the University of Cádiz. During this course, I was introduced to the fundamentals of immunotherapy and CAR-T cell dynamics, and became fascinated by the potential of mathematical and computational tools to contribute to this area. |
| 33 | + |
| 34 | +I believe that building a scalable, open-source simulation of CAR-T therapy can become a valuable resource for scientists and clinicians worldwide, helping them to better understand and optimize treatment strategies considering the complex landscape of solid tumors. |
| 35 | + |
| 36 | +### Implementation Details and Plans |
| 37 | + |
| 38 | +This project will develop a scalable agent-based simulation of CAR-T therapy using BioDynaMo. The simulation will include: |
| 39 | + |
| 40 | +- T-cell migration, proliferation, and tumor cell killing, |
| 41 | +- Simulation of both solid tumors and hematological cancers, |
| 42 | +- Modeling of tumor microenvironment components such as: |
| 43 | + - Hypoxia, |
| 44 | + - Regulatory T-cells, |
| 45 | + - Immunosuppressive cytokines, |
| 46 | +- Development of custom scripts for: |
| 47 | + - Visualizing tumor progression/regression, |
| 48 | + - Quantifying CAR-T efficacy, |
| 49 | +- Exploration of therapy strategies including: |
| 50 | + - CAR-T dosage and administration timing, |
| 51 | + - Performance benchmarking for different therapeutic scenarios. |
| 52 | + |
| 53 | +A modular architecture will ensure that the simulation is extensible and reusable in future studies. Insights gained from these simulations will be summarized in a comprehensive report including replication of real data and comparison between treatment strategy results. |
| 54 | + |
| 55 | +### Conclusion |
| 56 | + |
| 57 | +By building a BioDynaMo-based model of CAR-T cell therapy, we aim to provide a flexible and high-performance tool for exploring treatment strategies in complex tumor environments. This is really valuable work for the community since it could help identify conditions that enhance CAR-T efficacy, contributing to improved design of immunotherapies. |
| 58 | + |
| 59 | + |
| 60 | +### Related Links |
| 61 | + |
| 62 | +- [Project Description](https://hepsoftwarefoundation.org/gsoc/2025/proposal_BioDynamo-CART.html) |
| 63 | +- [BioDynaMo Repository](https://github.com/BioDynaMo/biodynamo) |
| 64 | +- [My GitHub Profile](https://github.com/salva24) |
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