The Epitheliome Project: multiscale agent-based modeling of epithelial cells

The aim of the Epitheliome Project is to develop a computational model of cell behaviour within the context of tissue architecture, differentiation, wound repair and malignancy. Integration is central to tissue development for skin, integration between mesenchymal and epithelial tissue; at the physical level from focal adhesions and adherens junctions to cytoskeleton to whole tissue; at the signaling level from control of gene expression through to development of gradients controlling histodifferentiation; and integration in the sense of the development of tissues as an emergent property of cell behaviour. An individual-based model of the cell is used, and tissue development is thus a result of the interaction of individual cells. The limit of a large number of individual cells is a continuum model of tissue, and individual cells can contain continuum or differential equation models of cellular mechanisms. The hierarchical modeling paradigm is described