Trends in Cell Biology Cover Art

Our paper, “Agent-based methods facilitate integrative science in cancer” was featured on the cover of the journal Trends in Cell Biology. Caption: “Modeling tumor evolution via integrative team science. On pages 300–311 in this issue, West et al. review the utility of agent-based modeling to investigate the cell–cell and cell–environment interactions that drive cancer progression, therapeutic resistance, and metastasis. A set of simulated tumors is shown, where each pixel corresponds to a single tumor cell. Cells are color-coded according to the nature of recent interactions with infiltrating immune cells. Yellow cells are PD-L1+, green cells hide in acid, blue cells survive in low glucose, pink cells produce acid, and red cells out-proliferate predation. The background is an evolutionary Muller plot showing the trajectories of evolving tumor subclones over time (top to bottom). These tumors provide an apt metaphor for participating in integrative team science. Interdisciplinary teams are as diverse as the outcomes of our tumor simulations; mathematicians, evolutionary or experimental biologists, and clinicians can brainstorm and iterate to design the rules underlying the mathematical model.”

The final cover design was rotated to match the journal aspect ratio. Click the image to open up the April 2023 issue of Trends in Cell Biology.

Cover design by: Jeffrey West, Mark Robertson-Tessi, Alexander R.A. Anderson.