The Epithelial tissues form the barriers between us and the outside world  - our skin, the lining of all our body cavities (mouth, lungs, cervix, bladder, prostate gland, our intestines). They are very thin - typically about 0.5 mm thick, perhaps 10 cells - but have specialised functions. Key to epithelial behaviour is the protective barrier function coupled with enormous repair potential. Thus skin prevents us dehydrating and protects us from disease organisms, the bladder epithelium (the urothelium) is watertight and prevents urine damage or contamination of circulating blood, the lining of our intestines protects us from potentially damaging ingested material (e.g. bacteria) while selectively absorbing nutrients. It is not surprising giving the role of epithelia and their proliferative potential that all cancers, other than those originating from haemopoietic and mesenchymal cells, originate in epithelial tissues, which are relatively simple.

Epithelial tissues are obviously important  - we can not live without them! They are also relatively simple - they contain a limited number of different cell types, no blood vessels, no nerve endings. They are the source of important clinical problems - cancer, wound healing, diabetic ulcers, skin graft contraction. The ultimate aim of our modelling is to better understand these problems, and thus be able to do something about them.

All the tissues in our bodies (to be more general, all multi-cellular creatures) self-assemble. The "rules" for doing this are in each cell - in the genetic material. There is no information at the higher level of organisation than the individual cell, so all the organisation in tissues and organs and organisms is an "emergent property" of the interaction of large numbers of individual cells  - 10 E 13 in a human. Because emergent behaviour resulting from the interaction of individual cells is so important, we use an individual- based modelling paradigm in which each cell is represented by a software agent (especially, by a communicating stream X-machine). The behaviour and interaction of the individual agents (i.e. individual cells) is governed by biologically-based rules. The generic rules can be replaced by more specific and detailed models to explore the mechanisms which underly the behaviour.

The project involves close collaboration between computer scientists, engineers and cell biologists. The majority of the staff are based in the Kroto Research Institute at the University of Sheffield, with a smaller group at the Jack Birch Unit for Molecular Carcinogenesis at the University of York. The main project is supported by the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) by a project grant of £2m.

Fact-Sheet

• Name: The Epitheliome Project
• Scope: Development of normal structure and function in epithelial tissues, wound healing, development of malignancy. Exemplar  tissues are skin and urothelium.
• Location: UK, University of Sheffield (Computer Science and Engineering Materials) and University of York (Biology)
• Coordinator: Rod Smallwood
• Home Page
• Approx. budget: £2,000,00
• Main Sponsoring Institution: EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) UK