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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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