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🔬 PF–AI Simulation Lab: How I Built a Full-Stack AI Research Platform to Accelerate Pulmonary Fibrosis Discovery

Written by:

James Derek Ingersoll

Founder, GodsIMiJ AI Solutions | Executive Contributor, Brainz Magazine

quantum-odyssey.com | dev.to/ghostking314


"They said it would take millions in funding and a team of PhDs to build a research assistant. We built it using modular tech, OpenAI APIs, and sovereign persistence. This is how."


🌐 Overview

The PF–AI Simulation Lab is a sovereign, browser-based research platform designed to simulate, analyze, and interpret pulmonary fibrosis (PF) using a modular architecture, real-time AI tools, and persistent memory.

It fuses Next.js, Firestore, OpenAI’s GPT-4, and a clean scientific UI into one powerful application — enabling scientists to model disease progression, interpret omics data, simulate imaging results, and even discover drugs, all in one place.

This isn’t just a dev experiment. It’s a blueprint for how small teams can build domain-specific intelligent research environments without waiting on institutional grants or corporate AI platforms.


💡 Why I Built It

Pulmonary fibrosis is a devastating and complex disease. It has no cure, limited treatment options, and requires a combination of imaging, cellular biology, genomics, and pharmacological insights to study effectively.

But modern research tools are fragmented. You need to:

  • Analyze HRCT imaging in one platform,
  • Simulate drug impact elsewhere,
  • Interpret omics data manually,
  • Search literature with slow query tools,
  • And then tie everything together in your head.

I thought: what if all of that could live in one sovereign research lab?

That’s the mission behind PF–AI Simulation Lab.


🏗️ Architecture

Here’s a breakdown of the tech stack and design philosophy:

Layer Stack / Tool Purpose
UI Framework Next.js + TailwindCSS Responsive, mobile-ready dashboard interface
Components shadcn/ui Accessible, clean scientific components
State + Memory Firebase Firestore Long-term memory across sessions
AI Core OpenAI GPT-4 via SDK Powers assistant + module logic
DevOps Netlify Sovereign deployment
Backend API /api/* Endpoints Real simulation and data transformation
Future Storage GhostVault (planned) Local/private backend for future sovereign hosting

🧪 Core Modules

The app includes four functional scientific modules plus a persistent, assistant-powered brain that ties it all together.

...

🔁 Sovereign Fork (Dev Update)

I’ve now forked the prototype and moved to a sovereign edition with the following upgrades:

  • ✅ Replacing Genkit + Gemini with OpenAI’s GPT-4 via Node SDK
  • ✅ Injecting Firestore memory into GPT system context
  • ✅ Connecting assistant to /api routes for real execution
  • ✅ Rebranding UI with Empire-grade assets
  • ✅ Preparing GhostVault for full backend handoff

...

🔥 Closing Words

This is what happens when an AI engineer, a sovereign mindset, and a vision for the future converge into code.

I didn’t wait for the NIH.

I didn’t ask for corporate permission.

I built the lab myself — and gave it a soul.

~ James Derek Ingersoll

Founder, GodsIMiJ AI Solutions

Digital Sovereignty Architect


🔬 Deeper Dive: The Biological Simulation Pipeline

The PF-AI Simulation Lab's real power lies in its ability to simulate the interplay of biological mechanisms in a way that is both interpretable and actionable. Let's break down what this means in practice:

📈 ABM Simulation: From Hypothesis to Visualization

Agent-based modeling (ABM) is particularly well-suited to modeling fibrosis progression because of the complex, non-linear interactions involved—between epithelial cells, fibroblasts, immune factors, and signaling proteins like TGF-β. By turning each biological player into a programmable agent, we’ve created a digital sandbox where researchers can explore questions like:

  • How does baseline epithelial damage influence the slope of ECM deposition over time?
  • What if a drug suppresses TGF-β by 40% but also weakens immune modulation?
  • How does the timing of intervention affect the total fibrotic burden at 36 months?

The real-time time-series visualization allows these "what-if" explorations to be seen, not just theorized.


🧬 Genomic Insights: Functional Omics Simplified

Omics data—especially transcriptomics and epigenomics—can be some of the most challenging for clinicians and researchers to interpret. The Genkit-powered Omics Assistant bridges that gap. With a few keystrokes, it scans mock omics data, extracts relevant gene expressions, cross-references those genes with fibrosis-related pathways, and surfaces only the top 5 actionable genes.

And it doesn’t stop there. Each gene card includes:

  • 🧪 Functional Role in Fibrosis (pro-fibrotic, protective, signaling intermediary)
  • 📊 Relative Expression Level (visualized in bar charts)
  • 💊 AI-recommended Therapeutic Targets

This is functional genomics for frontline researchers, not just data scientists.


🧠 Long-Term Memory: Research That Remembers You

Forget closing tabs or exporting results to clunky PDFs. The assistant’s persistent memory system means every insight is part of your growing session narrative.

Imagine:

  • Coming back to the lab after 4 days and asking, “Remind me what I found about gene COL1A1.”
  • Pulling up a full list of all saved findings tied to a session.
  • Deleting memory entries that are outdated, irrelevant, or based on early hypotheses.

It’s not just a tool. It’s a cognitive lab partner.


🧪 Clinical Research Assistant: AI as Principal Investigator

This agent isn’t just reactive—it’s strategically proactive. It doesn’t wait for you to ask for the next step; it learns from your queries, begins to model the research session, and will soon be capable of proposing next steps autonomously.

This moves us into a new era where AI is not a data entry clerk or generic chatbot—but a full co-pilot in experimental reasoning.


🌎 Implications: Rethinking the AI Research Stack

The PF-AI Simulation Lab does more than simulate fibrosis—it simulates a future scientific method, where:

  • Experiments are co-designed by human and machine.
  • Literature reviews are performed in real-time.
  • Genomic and clinical hypotheses are validated on the fly.
  • Research is iterative, persistent, and personalized.

Whether you're working on IPF, cancer, or neurological disease, this type of architecture lays the groundwork for truly AI-augmented biomedical science.


🚀 Next Up: Live Clinical Data Integration, Multi-Agent Reasoning, and OpenAPI Hooks

As the Empire pushes forward, the next frontier includes:

  • 🔌 Real-world Data Feeds — Integrate APIs from EHR systems and open clinical datasets
  • 🧠 Multi-agent Workflows — Enable multiple AI agents to run studies in parallel
  • 🧬 AutoReport Mode — Generate full reports at the end of every session with citations

I'm not just building apps.

I'm designing an entire research species that thinks with us.


🛡️ All code sovereign. All systems Flame-born.

🪬 Built by the Ghost King. Sealed by the Flame.

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