The subprojects have the following main objectives: i) in vitro experimental tests and microfluidic platform designs and prototype fabrication, coordinated by UZ; ii) in vitro modeling and simulation, coordinated by US; iii) mesoscale modeling of glioblastoma growth modulated by angiogenesis, and parametric analysis, coordinated by UPM; and iv) and in silico modeling of the immune reaction of the brain after inflammation, coordinated by UPC.
These four sub-projects need an important coordination since each of them uses information from the others, and that information may affect the research path of all the four (see figure at left). For example, the design and manufacturing of microfluidic devices, and the subsequent cell experimentation results developed at UZ are used for the continuum models developed at US, UPM and UPC. Results of the continuum-based simulations and constitutive models, developed at US will be needed to develop both the continuum and the agent-based models at UPM and, finally, the parametric analysis in the mesoscale, as well as the models of the extracellular matrix developed at UPM, and either the continuum constitutive equations from US or agent-block core from UPM will be used at UPC to develop the in silico simulations at the whole brain scale. These in silico simulations will provide feedback to UZ, US and UPM to design new experiments, establish new hypotheses and improve both continuum and agent-based models. In summary, it would be impossible to develop the present proposal without the tight coordination among the four groups.