Development of a coupled simulation toolkit for computational radiation biology based on Geant4 and CompuCell3D

Area of Science:

• Computational biology
• Medical physics
• Oncology

Background:

• Clinical radiation therapy requires sophisticated models to predict tumor response.
• Current methods often lack integrated simulation of radiation transport and cell-level biological effects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel computational platform, RADCELL, for simulating radiation effects on biological tissue.
• To couple Geant4 for radiation transport with CompuCell3D for cell biology simulation.
• To provide a framework for quantifying biological consequences in radiotherapy.

Main Methods:

• Developed RADCELL, a bridging module to couple Geant4 (Geant4-DNA) and CompuCell3D (CC3D).
• Simulated radiation transport using Geant4 and cell biology using CC3D.
• Integrated cell dose and DNA damage data from Geant4 into CC3D for dynamic cell property updates.

Main Results:

• Successfully coupled Geant4 and CC3D to simulate radiation transport and cellular response.
• Obtained detailed cell dose and DNA damage distributions within a multicellular system.
• Demonstrated the platform's application in simulating radiotherapy for a vascularized tumor model.

Conclusions:

• The RADCELL platform offers a powerful tool for simulating radiation therapy's biological impact.
• This integrated approach enhances the understanding of tumor response to irradiation.
• Facilitates the design and optimization of advanced radiotherapy treatment strategies.