Why Some Scientists Believe the Future of Medicine Lies in Creating Digital Twins

Within the walls of a 19th-century chapel on the outskirts of Barcelona, a heart starts to slowly contract. This is not a real heart but a virtual copy of one that still pounds inside a patient’s chest. With its 100 million patches of simulated cells, the digital twin—a fully functional simulation of human anatomy— pumps at a leisurely pace as it tests treatments, from drugs to implants. This digital twin pulses within MareNostrum, a supercomputer used by scientists to simulate features of the real world. These simulations can look just like the real thing, but they are vastly more sophisticated than Hollywood visual effects because they behave like the real thing—from how the heart moves to the charged atoms that zip in and out of its cells. And they are already beginning to help doctors to predict how the particular heart of a particular patient will respond to a particular treatment. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] This worldwide effort to create virtual cells, tissues, and organs is revolutionary because modern medicine is largely backwards facing: Currently, doctors try to figure out what is the best treatment for their patients by assessing past clinical trials on subjects who are a bit like their present patients, in similar but not identical circumstances. In coming decades, though, doctors will be able to use digital twins—which see the exchange of data and insights between a real and virtual human—to better predict wh...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized freelance health Source Type: news