Simulation of a growing mammalian cell colony: collision-based packing algorithm for deformable particles

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses simulation of a growing mammalian cell colony. The problem of computer simulation for creating artificial life has been widely studied lately by the computer graphics community. Biology is one of the main sources of complex problems that require computer simulation. This chapter deals with simulation of a growing mammalian cell colony. A colony is modeled as a set of contacting deformable particles. A particle can be substituted by a pair of new particles that models the process of cell division. From the geometric modeling point of view, this application has stated the complex problem of modeling arbitrarily shaped geometric particles, their collisions and packing. This chapter examines opportunity of applying geometrical approach to formation of packing structure of a cell colony. It considers a numerical packing algorithm uniting various components. The biological origin of the model is observed. The chapter also describes algorithm of colony growth simulation. It evaluates biological adequateness of the model and discusses trends for future research.