Emergence of Vascular Networks

Ponente(s): Pedro Aceves Sanchez

The emergence of vascular networks is a long-standing problem that has been the subject of intense research in the past decades. One of the main reasons is its widespread applications in tissue regeneration, wound healing, cancer treatment, etc. The mechanisms involved in the formation of vascular networks are complex and despite the vast amount of research devoted to it, there are still many mechanisms involved that are poorly understood. Our aim is to bring insight into the study of vascular networks by defining heuristic rules, as simple as possible, and to simulate them numerically to test their relevance in the vascularization process. We will introduce a hybrid agent-based/continuum model coupling blood flow, oxygen flow, capillary network dynamics, and tissue dynamics. We will present several simulations that demonstrate our model's ability to accurately represent the key characteristics of vascular networks.