Numerical simulation of tumor spheroid dynamics

While mosts cells are polarized and give rise to complex structures as they grow, some cells, like those found in several tumors, are unpolarized, and produce spherical, or almost-spherical structures.Tumorspheroidsmaybegrowninvitroandyieldusefulinformationontumordy- namics, but growth requires long times (months) and is not easily controlled. We are now developing a novel numerical engine to simulate the growth of unpolarized cells and to study spheroidtumorgrowthinsilico.Herewesketchthestructureofthesimulatorandreporton some of the very rst results obtained with this approach.