Simulated cell death

Systems simulation specialist Physiomics has helped to successfully model the death of a cancer cell, the Oxford-based company told its shareholders.

Physiomics said the generation of the model, known as the Apoptosis Model, marked the completion of phase one of its collaboration with ValiRx, a biopharmaceutical company with its HQ in London. The Apoptosis Model helps therapy developers decide which cancer cells to target, and is claimed to accelerate product development and reduce costs.

Physiomics specialises in using computational systems biology models to create populations of ‘virtual cells’ that can be studied during drug development.

The two partners hope to patent the model, which will be used to speed up ValiRx’s own development process and licensed to third-party companies as an R&D tool.