{
  "abstract": "Wound healing assays are widely used to study fibroblast migration and proliferation in the lab. Although traditional scratch assays provide valuable insight, they can be time-intensive, inflexible, and difficult to reproduce. Computational models provide an efficient and reproducible way to study fibroblast behavior in silico. We developed an agent-based simulation of fibroblast scratch assays that models migration, proliferation, contact inhibition, cell-cell mechanical interactions, and the extracellular matrix (ECM) through a particle representation of fibroblasts and the ECM. To validate our model, we performed two tests: a leave-one-out test, where model parameters were calibrated to 6 imaging time series and tested on the remaining one, and a prediction test, where model parameters were calibrated to the first 24 hours of data and the remaining 66 hours of data were predicted. In our leave-one-out test, our model achieved a mean normalized root mean squared error (mean NRMSE) of 3.34%, and a Pearsons R of > 0.98 across all tested wound geometries time series. In the prediction test, the model predicted the remaining 66 hours of wound closure with an NRMSE of 2.08%. These results demonstrate that experimentally observed wound healing behavior of fibroblasts across different geometries can be modeled by local, agent-based rules. Our model provides an efficient platform for the experimentation and in silico study of fibroblast behavior.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "University of Michigan"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "R. T. K. Sumanaweera"
    },
    {
      "name": "C. Stansbury"
    },
    {
      "name": "W. Meixner"
    },
    {
      "name": "J. Cwycyshyn"
    },
    {
      "name": "l. Muir"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "I. Rajapakse"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e394c28e14hp7.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.10.15.759485",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.15.759485v1.full",
  "id": "e394c28e14hp7",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.15.759485v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "systems biology"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2742|Wound Healing and Treatments"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7222447008",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.15.759485v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-15",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e394c28e14hp7.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:28:11Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.10.15.759485",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.15.759485v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:systems biology",
      "subfield": "systems-synthetic"
    }
  ],
  "title": "An agent-based model of wound healing in fibroblast scratch assays",
  "title_text": "An agent-based model of wound healing in fibroblast scratch assays",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:28:11Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e394c28e14hp7",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}