Download Hunter HRC09 2006 - Health Research Council

Virtual heart helps
medical research
Having the world’s first computer model of a human heart means University
of Auckland researchers can use the model to help diagnose diseases of the
heart, design medical devices and speed up the discovery of new drugs.
Work on developing the virtual heart began 25 years ago as part of a
collaboration between the School of Medicine and the School of Engineering,
which led to the establishment of The Bioengineering Institute headed by
Professor Peter Hunter and Associate Professor Bruce Smaill.
They began by using mathematical techniques to look at the underlying
equations that govern the behaviour of the heart coupled with detailed
measurement of the structure of cardiac tissue.
Professor Peter Hunter
Key words:
– computer modelling of heart,
musculoskeletal system, lung
physiome.
About computer models:
– computer modelling of the heart
allows researchers to subject it to a
range of different influences, from
drugs to stress and see how it
affects the heart from a cellular to
a whole organ level.
Aims of the research:
– to develop computer models of
major human body organs and
systems and eventually create a
virtual body
– the major long term goal is to use
the models in drug discovery once
the models contain more detail
on subcellular processes such as
signal transduction pathways and
gene regulatory networks.
What this research by
researchers in the Auckland
Bioengineering Institute (ABI)
has achieved:
– the world’s first anatomically- and
biophysically-based computer
model of a human heart
– models of the lungs, digestive
system and musculoskeletal
system are under development
– the musculoskeletal model is
already being used for diagnostics,
virtual surgery and design of
medical devices
– computer models are also being
used for a number of surgical
training and educational
applications.
Professor Hunter says this has allowed them to create mathematical
models linking all the information right down to the cellular level so they
can understand cell behaviour. That means they can look at how the heart
reacts when subjected to chemical or electrical changes, drugs or other
influences.
“The models allow you to extract a lot more information than you would
otherwise be able to. For example, it is not possible to directly measure
stress in the heart. Whereas with measurements of deformation using
tagged MRI by Dr Alistair Young in the ABI, the models provide the stresses
throughout the heart and therefore the energy consumption and the link to
coronary blood supply and so on,” he says.
Professor Hunter explains that a lot of heart-related diseases are associated
with quite complex processes from the sub-cellular tissue to the whole
organ.
“The only way one can understand and provide diagnostic and treatment
strategies is by using modelling to interpret the complexities. It is a very
common approach in all other areas of engineering and physics, but its
application to medicine is relatively recent.”
Using similar techniques, Dr Merryn Tawhai is leading a team which is
developing a computer model of the lungs, while models of the digestive
system (led by Associate Professor Andrew Pullan) and the musculoskeletal
systems are also well-developed. The latter has been developed to the point
where there is preliminary use of the model for surgical planning.
Dr Hunter says the long-term aim is to develop a virtual human body.
“Ultimately we would like to be able to look at the effect of a gene mutation,
for example, and be able to follow it all the way through, from cell, to tissue,
to whole organ,” he says.
“There are potential applications in diagnostics, drug discovery, medical
devices and so on. But the biggest pay-off is going to be linking the genome
to the whole organism.”
This research is funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand, NERF
grant from FRST, Marsden Fund, the Wellcome Trust, NIH, NZ Govt (via
TEC) Centre of Research Excellence grants to the Auckland Centre for Molecular
Biodiscovery and to NZIMA, and also internal grants from The University of
Auckland and UniServices.
HRC09 2006
Level 3, 110 Stanley Street, Auckland PO Box 5541,
Wellesley Street, Auckland, NZ
Telephone 64 9 303 5200 Facsimile 64 9 377 9988
Website www.hrc.govt.nz
Health Research Council of New Zealand
Te Kaunihera Rangahau Hauora o Aotearoa