Digital Modeling
Virtual 3D models of the body and individual organs will allow us to test drugs and procedures faster than ever before with no harm to patients or animals.
Clinical trials (i.e. testing a drug in humans) can take years to perform - going through phase 1 (checking for safety), phase 2 (checking for efficacy and side-effects) and phase 3 (monitoring adverse reactions). Less than one in ten successfully make it to market. That's a lot of wasted time and effort.
Digital modelling allows testing from a cellular level to whole body interactions to take place in silico - in software. As the digital models improve, and the speed of computers continue to increase, rather than taking months to perform a phase 1 trial this may be carried out in a few days on a supercomputer. Even if not 100% accurate to start with, it should at least increase the success rate of drug development.
Resources
More Digital Modeling resourcesDigital Modeling Blog Posts
Virtual Bodies are Accelerating Research and Diagnostics
21-Jul-2015
Recent News
A new enzyme discovered to reverse cellular ageing
Phys.org - 30-Nov-2020
Molecular simulations have discovered an enzyme with anti ageing and anti tumour effects
Read more...Novel ageing pathway slows ageing of yeast cells in silico
CNN - 21-Jul-2020
It's a long way to go to having an effect in humans in vivo, but an interesting approach
Read more...Digital twins to revolutionize personalized medicine
Medical Futurist - 19-Mar-2020
Risk prediction and best therapy for a specific patient is a future possibility
Read more...