by Reia Lee
I had the opportunity to conduct research through the UTSIP Kashiwa program at the SCSLab (Simulation of Complex Systems Lab) in the Department of Human and Engineered Environmental Sciences. My project focused on using an agent-based model on a platform called NetLogo to simulate cancer growth and the interactions between cancer, healthy, and immune cells based on game theory and replicator dynamics. Although I had prior experience in computational biology, I was new to game theory and complex systems, so this project was an exciting challenge in an unfamiliar field. I was also eager to develop computational skills, since I was interested in diving deeper into dry lab rather than wet lab.
After reviewing relevant literature and learning NetLogo, I identified two key parameters that significantly affected cancer growth: one representing competition between cancer and healthy cells, and the other representing the immune killing rate of cancer cells. I constructed a phase diagram that illustrated three modes of cancer growth—no growth, dispersed growth, and clustered growth—based on changes to these parameters. To further analyze the results, I coded a script in NetLogo to quantify clustering, drawing on concepts from the DBSCAN machine learning algorithm. This was the most technically challenging part of my research since I was new to the coding language and platform.
Beyond the research itself, UTSIP Kashiwa was an incredible experience. I made friends from all over the world and enjoyed my time in Kashiwa. Although I am Japanese and have spent many summers in Japan with my family, living there longer-term and conducting research there gave me a deeper perspective on life in Japan. I am extremely grateful for this opportunity—this was truly one of my most memorable summers, and I gained valuable insights and skills in complex systems research.
