Page 138 - Visions of the Future Chemistry and Life Science

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The making of the virtual heart

Peter Kohl, Denis Noble, Raimond L. Winslow and
2
1
1
Peter Hunter 3
1 Laboratory of Physiology, University of Oxford, OX1 3PT, UK
2 Department of Biomedical Engineering, JHU, Baltimore, MD 21205-2195,
USA
3 Engineering Science Department, University of Auckland, New Zealand

8.1 Introduction

This essay is about the making of the most comprehensive computer
model of a human organ to date: the virtual heart. It will beat, ‘consume’
energy or experience the lack of it, respond to stress or drug administra-
tion, grow and age – in short, it will behave like the real thing. Or, let’s say,
close to. Because the virtual heart may be stopped without harm at any
point in time, and dissected, inspected, resurrected, etc. . . . We shall
address this in more detail below, together with other enticing aspects of
virtual organ development. In particular, we will try to:
• review the need for virtual organs in the context of contemporary bio-
medical research;
• introduce the ideas behind the ‘Physiome Project’ – a world-wide
research effort, similar to the Genome Project, to describe human bio-
logical function using analytical computer models;
• provide insights into some of the more technical aspects of the virtual
heart; and finally
• address the utility and benefit of this new tool for biomedical research,
drug and device development, and the wider society.
In order to understand the dimensions of the making of the virtual
heart – let’s stand back, for a minute, and consider the difficulties of stud-
ying and describing any unknown complex system.

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