The simulation of artificial cells, while more tractable than for current biological cells, represents a formidable problem because of the multiple time scales involved (from femtoseconds to minutes and hours) and the large numbers of molecules involved.
The PACE project has brought together simulation expertise ranging from quantum mechanics and molecular dynamics, through mesoscale dynamics (such as dissipative particle dynamics) to the level of stochastic chemical kinetics and reaction-diffusion systems. In this section we present results attained either at these various levels or on their integration into a multiscale framework. One result of this work has been the multiscale underpinning of variable scale reactive DPD tools, that are used to construct full working models of the physical life cycle of artificial cells.