Date: July 26, 2022
Speaker: Dr. Sanjay R. Kharche
Affiliation: Kidney Clinical Research Unit, Victoria Hospital, London, Ontario
Title: Multi-scale and multi-physics digital twins of mammalian organs
Abstract: New device and drug approval rates are low due to a lack of early safety testing. Whereas clinical and experimental research are essential, they remain resource intensive with subjective outcomes. A need of the times is to accelerate translation by quantifying experimental observations while reducing expenditure. To do so, we propose to deploy our mammalian digital twins of arterial hemodynamics (blood flow in whole body and organs) and cells (smooth muscle cells and cardiomyocytes). The in silico modelling IP is generalizable to the study of inflammation.
Arterial hemodynamics projects: Our data driven model of the swine coronary vasculature (blood vessels in heart muscle) is primed for validation pending future animal imaging followed by a clinical trial. It is designed to provide a quantitative recommendation to decide whether to perform open high risk surgery such as cardiac percutaneous coronary intervention. Further, it provides a reliable technology for testing failure modes of stents. As a second long term research instrument in the form of a whole rodent multi-scale vasculature model is being developed which integrates experimental data to uncover, and potentially predict, the effects of a repetitive surgery.
Cell modelling for toxicity assessment projects: There is a growing emphasis on in silico evidence generation and drug toxicity testing. I will briefly present the further development of cell models, specifically cardiomyocytes in the heart and smooth muscle cells in arterial walls, as instruments that permit drug toxicity testing. In addition, the cell models are also expected to contribute to hemodynamics and potential stem cell translational research which I will refer to.
The modelling activities necessitate development, maintenance, and routine use of reliable software platforms, which I will briefly discuss.