Articles
Researchers have won a £6.7 million grant to create a computer model of the human musculoskeletal system which could lead to personalised treatment for diseases such as osteoporosis and arthritis.
The five-year project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), will see experts from the University of Sheffield’s Insigneo Institute for In silico Medicine, the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust join forces to create a modelling framework for the human musculoskeletal system.
Researchers hope that creating an engineering-based model of an individual patient’s musculoskeletal make-up will lead to lower costs for treating chronic bone disorders by predicting disease development and enabling better treatment. The model will also capture processes at a cellular scale right up to the whole body.
Professor Damien Lacroix of the Insigneo Institute and the university’s department of mechanical engineering said: “Our work in building accurate computer models of the human body that are tailored to each individual’s anatomy and physiology means that every patient receives treatment personally optimised to their detailed circumstances.
“This leads to improved outcomes, faster recovery and, in almost all cases, lower costs. The new EPSRC-supported research programme is particularly ground-breaking as it integrates our modelling components across the full range of scales using new techniques able to account for currently unobservable and uncertain variables.
“The impact on healthcare could be tremendous. Total healthcare expenditure in the UK doubled in 2000-10 to a staggering 10% of gross domestic product.”
The engineering basis for Insigneo’s work means that techniques developed for one disease area can usually be migrated to other parts of the body, leading to the development of an integrated understanding of disease mechanisms.
Insigneo director Professor Marco Viceconti said: “The advanced multiscale simulation techniques we are developing are the core technologies for the next major advance in medicine.
“By applying these most sophisticated engineering methods to the human body’s organs and systems we are uncovering disease mechanisms as never before, and by grounding our work in fundamental engineering principles we are developing a sustainable framework for the complete modelling of physiology.”
Sir Andrew Cash, chief executive of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This is probably the most sophisticated application of computing technology in healthcare today. Sheffield has become the UK’s main centre for this advancement in research, clinical diagnosis and care which will ultimately benefit patients across the world.”
The project is one of five selected to receive Frontier Engineering awards, as announced at the Global Grand Challenges Summit on 12 March.