VPH NoE Exemplar Projects and the VPH ToolKit - 2. Integrated multi-level modelling of the musculoskeletal system PDF | Print | E-mail

Article Index
VPH NoE Exemplar Projects and the VPH ToolKit
1. A multi-organ Core Model of arterial pressure and body fluids homeostasis
2. Integrated multi-level modelling of the musculoskeletal system
3. The Vertical and Horizontal Atherome (WHAM)
4. Multi-scale simulation and prediction of the drug safety problems related with hERG
5. Digital Patient Working Group: Modelling and visualising brain function and pathophysiology
6. Establishing ontology-based methods for the VPH ToolKit to improve interoperability between data and models: the Guyton case study
7. CIGENE: Integrating genetic theory and genomic data with multiscale models in a population context
8. USFD: The NoE, Infrastructure and the Challenge of Call6
9. VIP for VPH : Execution of medical image simulation workflows on DEISA through workflow interoperability between the Virtual Imaging Platform and the VPH toolkit
10. Environment for Sexually Transmitted Infection Modeling
11. Vascular Tissue Modeling Environment (VTME)
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2. Integrated multi-level modelling of the musculoskeletal system

Lead: ULB, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

A number of problems met in daily clinical practice relating to the musculoskeletal system still call for the development of new integrative approaches. For example, cerebral palsy requires clinicians to handle and mentally combine numerous types of inhomogeneous data: electromyography, motion data, medical imaging, etc. Furthermore, clinical interventions and observations for this kind of pathology typically occur at the organ level (i.e., injection of Botox in the spastic muscle), while the real problem is located at the cellular level (i.e. spasticity of the muscle fibre, action of the Botox on the neuromuscular junction). Additional complexity arises in the musculoskeletal system due to the interaction of multiple organs (several muscles, several ligaments, the hyaline cartilage) in the overall functioning of the system. Solving this kind of problem will not only require multi-level integration, but will also require the development of multi-organ and multi-tissue modelling based on robust optimisation algorithms and advanced visualisation tools. Such an approach has been the focus of several EC-funded projects (VAKHUM, Multimod, LHDL), whose main results are the availability of a shared ICT technology, called MAF2, aiming to perform the required integrative research.

This seed EP will aim to carefully define the various needs arising in the musculoskeletal field based on the experience of previous projects. These needs will be communicated to the WP3 ToolKit development team to inform it of the specific requirements for this type of model integration. It is expected that the next step within this EP will be the development of an ontology to allow further integration of the musculoskeletal models with other sub-systems (e.g., the nervous system and both cardiac and v ascular systems). From the VPH NoE requirements, available ICT tools (such as optimisation and visualisation tools) will be considered for integration into the VPH ToolKit to answer common needs arising from the modelling of other anatomical sub-systems.