This work shows how the cellular Potts model can be used as a framework for model building and how extended models can achieve even better biological practicality, accuracy, and predictive power. It focuses on ways to integrate and interface the basic cellular Potts model at the mesoscopic scale with approaches that accurately model microscopic dynamics. These extensions are designed to create a nested and hybrid environment, where the evolution of a biological system is realistically driven by the constant interplay and flux of information between the different levels of description.