Harrison Cooper Undergraduate Dissertation 2017/18

Development of an Agent-based Model Capturing Cellular Interactions Associated with Heart Attack

Supervised by D.Walker

Abstract

Ageing is believed to be the largest contributor to the deterioration of the wall lining the inside of our blood vessels and is dictated by a series of rules which produce emergent behaviors between cells. Agent based models have been used in the past to great success in accurately modelling interactions between cells and one has been adapted for this project.

Migration of endothelial cells plays a crucial role in the healing of damaged endothelium walls, and as we get older this migration is thought to be hindered by the increased presence of larger senescent cells. The model aims to provide insight into the rate of wound closure with age and the results support the theory that senescent cells slow down surrounding cells, therefore increasing the risk of having a heart attack.