Chaste
Chaste: Cancer, Heart and Soft Tissue Environment
Chaste is an open-source software framework developed at the University of Oxford for simulating biological systems. It is written in C++ and designed to support a wide range of models, including cardiac electrophysiology, cancer growth, and tissue mechanics.
The framework provides reusable components for common tasks such as solving differential equations, handling meshes, and managing simulations. This allows researchers to focus on the biology they want to study rather than building infrastructure from scratch.
Background and collaboration
Chaste began in the mid-2000s as one of the first open-source research software projects at the University of Oxford. At the time, it was unusual for academic codebases to be openly developed and maintained with a focus on reuse and longevity.
Since then, it has grown into a collaborative project with principal investigators and collaborators around the world, and core development teams based in Oxford, Sheffield, and Nottingham. It continues to be actively developed, supported by ongoing funding including the UKRI grant BB/V018930/1.
The project has been used internationally in a range of application areas, from cardiac modelling and drug safety to cancer and developmental biology.
From code to simulation
The graphic above illustrates how Chaste is typically used.
On the left is the code that defines a model. Researchers describe biological processes in terms of mathematical rules. For example, how cells grow, divide, move, and interact with their neighbours. These rules are implemented as algorithms and equations.
Chaste provides the machinery to run these models. It takes care of solving the underlying mathematics and managing the structure of the tissue being simulated.
On the right is the result: a simulation of a tissue made up of many individual cells. Each cell follows the rules defined in the code, and the overall behaviour emerges from their interactions.
This makes it possible to:
- Visualise processes that are difficult to observe directly
- Test ideas about how biological systems behave
- Measure quantities such as growth rates or spatial patterns
- Compare simulation results with experimental data
In this way, the workflow moves from code to simulation to something that can be analysed and interpreted.
Research software engineering
Chaste is also an example of long-term research software engineering. The codebase is developed using practices such as automated testing, continuous integration, and modular design.
This makes it easier for researchers to build on each other’s work and to trust the results produced by the software. It also helps ensure that the project remains usable and maintainable over time.
Summary
- One of the earliest open-source research software projects at Oxford
- Developed and maintained across Oxford, Sheffield, and Nottingham
- Widely used for modelling biological systems at multiple scales
- Supports reproducible and extensible computational research
Chaste continues to provide a shared platform for researchers working at the interface of mathematics, computation, and biology.
Website: https://chaste.github.io/
RSE: Fergus Cooper
Public Repos
https://github.com/Chaste/Chaste
