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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://molab.es/)) 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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