Supporting data for "PhysiMeSS - A New PhysiCell Add-on for Extracellular Matrix Modelling"

The extracellular matrix is a complex assembly of macromolecules, such as collagen fibres, which provide structural support for surrounding cells. In the context of cancer metastasis, it represents a barrier for the cells, that the migrating cells need to degrade to leave the primary tumour and invade further tissues. Agent-based frameworks, such as PhysiCell, are often used to represent the spatial dynamics of tumour evolution. However, typically they only implement cells as agents, which are represented by either a circle (2D) or a sphere (3D). To accurately represent the extracellular matrix as a network of fibres, we require a new type of agent represented by a segment (2D) or a cylinder (3D). <br>In this article, we present PhysiMeSS, an add-on of PhysiCell, which introduces a new type of agent to describe fibres, and their physical interactions with cells and other fibres. PhysiMeSS implementation is publicly available in the PhysiMeSS GitHub repository and in the official PhysiCell repository. We also provide simple examples to describe the extended possibilities of this new framework. We hope that this tool will serve to tackle important biological questions such as diseases linked to dis-regulation of the extracellular matrix, or the processes leading to cancer metastasis.