Parallel Implementations of an Immune Network Model Using POSIX Threads and OpenMP

In the last few years, there has been an increasing interest in the mathematical and computational modeling of the human immune system (HIS). In particular, the use of computational models is fundamental to understand the HIS dynamics. The availability of computational models on which to do experiments and to test new hypothesis would accelerate our understanding of the HIS, allowing us to develop new drugs against many diseases. In this scenario we extended, in a previous work, a computational model of the HIS that represents the behavior of two of its cells, the B and T lymphocytes, in distinct situations. In this paper we present a parallel implementation of the model, developed in order to reduce the computational time needed in the simulations. We also describe the techniques used in the implementation of the parallel model, evaluates its performance, and discuss the initial results that have been obtained.