In our group, we are developing in silico models and numerical techniques for understanding the mechanisms of established and novel therapeutic strategies against cancers. The complex nature of solid tumours, tendency for mutation, and ability to develop drug resistance make conventional treatment techniques either ineffective or very toxic. Thus, moving beyond clinically established therapeutic modalities, e.g., chemo- and radiotherapy, recent biological evidence has demonstrated the anti-tumoral effect of cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAPP).
In this direction we are working in the EIC Pathfinder Open project IgnitePLASMA (https://igniteplasma.eu/), a partnership involving the University of Cyprus (coordinator) with the University of Sorbonne, CNRS-Paris, the University of Patras and Synnous Ltd, to study pancreatic cancers & cholangiocarcinomas, and the therapeutic effects of CAPP. Specifically, in CAPP jets, noble gases are ionised through intense electric fields to produce reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) that have been proven in the lab to be effective killing neoplastic cells.
In the IgnitePLASMA project, our work focuses on the development of advanced multiphysics models to simulate these processes across multiple spatio-temporal scales. We model the CAPP discharge and jet dynamics, including the generation and transport of charged and neutral species, as well as the production of RONS. These simulations are coupled with biophysical models (i.e., agent-based modelling) to describe tumour cell and its microenvironment dynamics, enabling us to investigate the mechanisms as to how RONS interact with healthy and cancerous tissue.
This IgnitePLASMA project has received funding from the Horizon-EIC-2023 Pathfinder Open program (Grant ID: 101129853; https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101129853) and the UKRI (Grant ID: 10106237).
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