Augment Certainty of Bio-simulation Studies with Computational Fluid Dynamics

The trial-and-error approach continues to dominate drug delivery and development. It is an extensive and inefficient procedure, especially when an immediate solution to a health condition is vital. So far, the drug development approach has been focused on subpopulations. Still, with a simulation model that can translate the biological study into mathematical equations known as biosimulation, it is possible to treat a patient as an individual and not as a subgroup member.

In the future, we ought to witness avatars for every patient that will be fully aware of their medical and genetic conditions. This patient-specific avatar will be tested to study the side effects and acceptance rate of a new drug before being administered to the patient, like how a CAD model of a car is tested and analyzed before production. We understand that our body is a complex system, and we, humans are trying our best to replicate these in an external environment for grafting a piece of skin or creating a tricuspid valve or an artificial kidney. We also realize that fluid dynamics have the upper hand in altering the design to thrive in the respective environment. Along the line, computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations have a lot to offer for a top-level view of how the flow of different fluids can affect the drug delivery process or other bio-simulation studies for lead discovery.

CFD in Bio-Simulation Studies

In the below two cases, CFD boosts the outcome of bio-simulation studies:

• Understanding Pharmacokinetics using CFD

Someone from a non-medical background might wonder what pharmacokinetics is. Well, it is a branch of pharmaceutical research that deals with drug delivery inside our bodies. Using a combination of biophysical modeling of tissues and organs to form an organ system, along with drug physiochemical properties, can provide a deeper understanding of the therapeutic effects of the drug and the drug delivery mechanism.

For example, a CFD study of the spinal canal is beneficial to identify an effective drug transport mechanism and its corresponding therapeutic effects in a patient with spinal cord injury. The flow of a drug through the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the spinal canal can be determined using CFD simulations. This surges the accuracy of the bio-simulation study, especially for cases where pharmacokinetic experimental measurements are impossible to perform. It is important to note that the drug’s therapeutic effects are driven by effective tissue binding and penetration, which can be studied at a molecular level using bio-simulation tools.

• Correlation between Shear Stress and Bone Metastasis

Over the past 250 years, there have been several discoveries in efforts to treat or cure cancer, from tumor-suppressing gene cloning to unearthing human cancer treatment vaccines. Amidst all these discoveries, we witness bio-simulation tools employed to effectively diagnose malignant cells at a molecular level. CFD predictions and analysis are used to account for the repercussions to and from the surrounding environment to augment the certainty of these bio-simulation studies.

When cancer cells are malignant, there is a proliferation of other body parts, referred to as metastasis. This spread of cancerous cells in bones is called bone metastasis. Using CFD models, it is possible to study the correlation between fluid shear stress and the spread of cancer cells on scaffolds. From CFD simulations, it is observed that there is a direct correlation between tumor growth and interstitial flows in bones. This observation can enhance the solution for bone metastasis using bio-simulation tools.

Cadence Offerings for CFD Predictions and Bio-simulation

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an aspect of multiphysics system analysis that simulates the behavior of fluids and their thermodynamic properties using numerical models. Cadence’s robust CFD suite – Fidelity CFD, can resolve issues such as multiphase flows, incompressible and compressible flows, laminar flows, acoustics, particle tracking, combustion phenomenon, thermal exchangers, diffusion, smoke propagation, and many more. Our suite of CFD tools has been around for decades, specializing and evolving with the industry.           

 Cadence is committed to advancing system innovation through our core competency in computational software. Our computational fluid dynamics solutions are a vital part of fulfilling that commitment. With an industry-leading meshing approach, and a robust host of solver and post-processing capabilities to pair alongside, you’ll be thinking of computational fluid dynamics as “Cadence fluid dynamics” in no time. Cadence is now extending that computational software core competency to molecular modeling and simulation through its acquisition of the OpenEye.

OpenEye, an industry leader in computational molecular design, has pioneered physics-based approaches and the cloud-native Orion® software platform to accelerate advances in human health. The acquisition allows pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to benefit from more robust drug discovery solutions that combine OpenEye’s innovative molecular modeling and simulation software solutions with Cadence’s algorithmic and solver expertise, efficient, extensive data management infrastructure, and leading AI/ML and cloud solutions.

Request a demo today if you’d like to try Fidelity CFD for your CFD applications by clicking the button below.