OpenVT Reproducible Agent-Based Multicellular Model Competition

Multicellular simulations have become indispensable in understanding complex biological phenomena, from tissue development to disease progression. The diversity of simulation methods (including cellular Potts, cellular automata, lattice-free, stochastic particle and other methodologies) and the lack of standards for multicellular model specification pose challenges to building reproducible, modular and reusable simulations.

This competition is designed to promote and support the development of multicellular models which follow FAIR principles. Specifically, it recognizes recently published, scientifically significant, multicellular models which made an effort to ensure that the simulations are accessible, reproducible and reusable. Models must be published in a refereed journal on or after January 1, 2023 and publicly distributed.

The winners for this prize will be announced at the OpenVT Satellite Workshop on Reproducible Multicellular Modelling (on July 13, 2025) to be held at the SMB Annual Meeting 2025 in Edmonton Canada (July 13-18, 2025). However, attending the meetings is not required to submit or win.

Along with the awards (first/second/third place $400/200/100), winners will receive certificates of excellence and will be invited to present a virtual seminar in the Global Alliance for Immune Prediction and Intervention (GLIMPRINT) multiscale modeling virtual seminar series.

For submission, please follow the link to Google Docs. Extended deadline is Friday, 25 April.

Competition Rules

Models must be published in a refereed journal published on or after January 1, 2023 and publicly distributed, e.g. by prior submission to a public model repository such as BioModels or through a public GitHub site or similar resource (GitLab, SourceForge, BitBucket, etc).

The competition is primarily aimed at early career researchers, including but not limited to PhD students, postdocs, staff scientists, and research assistants. The competition is open to researchers from academia and industry. Individuals and small groups who developed the model are both eligible to compete. Individual: Applicant need not be the first author, but rather a modeller and co-author of the manuscript describing the model. Team: If multiple individuals were primary developers of the model, a small team can also apply.

Your model code and associated scripts can be in any format (e.g. SBML, CellML, COPASI, CC3D, VCell, Antimony, Morpheus, PhysiCell, Chaste, Matlab, Python, C++, R, Julia scripts, etc). However, the model code should use community standards when available, make significant effort to follow FAIR principles and COMBINE standards (when possible), include detailed documentation of the model, its execution and any post processing undertaken to generate results and figures in the submitted paper.

Competition Timeline

May 1: Initial evaluation of scientific merit by review committee and creation of a shortlist of finalists May 15: Notification of shortlist finalists May 15-June 1: 1 hour zoom sessions between finalists and jury to establish model reproducibility June 1-June 15th: Final ranking of competitors June 15th: Notification of winners July 13th: Announcement of winners at the OpenVT Satellite Workshop on Reproducible Multicellular Modelling

For questions about the competition contact: openvtprize@gmail.com