Abstract
The advent of detailed computational anatomical models has opened new avenues for computational life sciences (CLS). To date, static models representing the anatomical environment have been used in many applications but are insufficient when the dynamics of the body prevents separation of anatomical geometrical variability from physics and physiology. Obvious examples include the assessment of thermal risks in magnetic resonance imaging and planning for radiofrequency and acoustic cancer treatment, where posture and physiology-related changes in shape (e.g., breathing) or tissue behavior (e.g., thermoregulation) affect the impact. Advanced functionalized anatomical models can overcome these limitations and dramatically broaden the applicability of CLS in basic research, the development of novel devices/therapies, and the assessment of their safety and efficacy. Various forms of functionalization are discussed in this paper: (i) shape parametrization (e.g., heartbeat, population variability), (ii) physical property distributions (e.g., image-based inhomogeneity), (iii) physiological dynamics (e.g., tissue and organ behavior), and (iv) integration of simulation/measurement data (e.g., exposure conditions, “validation evidence” supporting model tuning and validation). Although current model functionalization may only represent a small part of the physiology, it already facilitates the next level of realism by (i) driving consistency among anatomy and different functionalization layers and highlighting dependencies, (ii) enabling third-party use of validated functionalization layers as established simulation tools, and (iii) therefore facilitating their application as building blocks in network or multi-scale computational models. Integration in functionalized anatomical models thus leverages and potentiates the value of sub-models and simulation/measurement data toward ever-increasing simulation realism. In our o2S2PARC platform, we propose to expand the concept of functionalized anatomical models to establish an integration and sharing service for heterogeneous computational models, ranging from the molecular to the organ level. The objective of o2S2PARC is to integrate all models developed within the National Institutes of Health SPARC initiative in a unified anatomical and computational environment, to study the role of the peripheral nervous system in controlling organ physiology. The functionalization concept, as outlined for the o2S2PARC platform, could form the basis for many other application areas of CLS. The relationship to other ongoing initiatives, such as the Physiome Project, is also presented.
Highlights
Human and animal anatomical models, highly detailed geometric representations of the distribution of different tissues in the body, have established themselves as crucial components for the dosimetric assessment of ionizing/non-ionizing radiation exposure, and, more recently, in computational life sciences (CLS)—e.g., to gain mechanistic understanding, to develop novel therapeutic approaches and medical devices, or to demonstrate the safety of implants in magnetic resonance environments
Virtual Population (Christ et al, 2009; Gosselin et al, 2014): The ViP includes a range of 11 detailed models (s. section 1)
In the last 20 years, the use of computational anatomical models has driven the field of CLS to new heights and as such they have become an indispensable staple
Summary
Human and animal anatomical models, highly detailed geometric representations of the distribution of different tissues in the body, have established themselves as crucial components for the dosimetric assessment of ionizing/non-ionizing radiation exposure, and, more recently, in computational life sciences (CLS)—e.g., to gain mechanistic understanding, to develop novel therapeutic approaches and medical devices, or to demonstrate the safety of implants in magnetic resonance environments. One example is our Virtual Population (ViP), a set of highly detailed anatomical models (Christ et al, 2009; Gosselin et al, 2014) generated from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data of male and female adults and children across a wide range of ages, including models of an elderly and an obese male. The ViP has been used in over 1000 publications and over 200 regulatory submissions worldwide Another widely employed set of models are the XCAT phantoms (Segars et al, 2018). These are NURBS-based models (whereas the ViP employs triangle meshes) that are popular in ionizing radiation dosimetry research
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