Virtual Physiological Human - History of Virtual Physiological Human (VPH)

History of Virtual Physiological Human (VPH)

The initial concepts that brought to the Virtual Physiological Human came from the IUPS physiome project. The IUPS physiome project was formed in 1997 and was the first worldwide effort to define the physiome through the development of databases and models which facilitated the understanding of the integrative function of cells, organs, and organisms. The project focused on compiling and providing a central repository of databases, linking experimental information and computational models from many laboratories into a single, self-consistent framework.

The Physiome is the quantitative and integrated description of the functional behaviour of the physiological state of an individual or species.

Following the launch of the Physiome Project, there were many other worldwide initiatives of loosely coupled actions all focusing on the development of methods for modelling and simulation of human pathophysiology. In 2005, an expert workshop of the Physiome was held as part of the Functional Imaging and Modelling of the Heart Conference in Barcelona where a White Paper was created. The paper was entitled ‘Towards Virtual Physiological Human: Multilevel modelling and simulation of the human anatomy and physiology’. The goal of this paper was to shape a clear overview of on-going relevant VPH activities, to build a consensus on how they can be complemented by new initiatives for researchers in the EU and to identify possible mid-term and long term research challenges.

In 2006 the European Commission funded a coordination and support action entitled STEP: Structuring The EuroPhysiome. The STEP consortium promoted a very large consensus process that involved more than 300 stakeholders including researchers, industry experts, policy makers, clinicians, etc. The prime result of this process was a booklet entitled Seeding the EuroPhysiome: A Roadmap to the Virtual Physiological Human. The STEP action and the resulting research roadmap were instrumental in the development of the concept of Virtual Physiological Human here provided, and in the initiation of much larger process that involves significant research funding, large collaborative projects, and a number of connected initiatives, not only in Europe but also in the United States, Japan, and China.

The Virtual Physiological Human now forms a core target of the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission, and aims to support the development of patient-specific computer models and their application in personalised and predictive healthcare. The Virtual Physiological Human Network of Excellence VPH NoE aims to connect the various VPH projects within the 7th Framework Programme.