The virtual liver: a multidisciplinary, multilevel challenge for systems biology

Area of Science:

• Systems biology and systems medicine
• Computational modeling of human organs

Background:

• The liver is a critical metabolic organ involved in detoxification, homeostasis, and acute phase response.
• Liver toxicity is a major cause of drug development failure, and liver disorders are linked to prevalent diseases like diabetes and fatty liver disease.
• Current understanding of complex liver physiology necessitates advanced modeling approaches.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the concepts and approaches for developing a whole-organ model of the human liver.
• To represent central liver physiological functions under normal and pathological conditions using computational methods.
• To integrate processes across hierarchical levels in space, time, and structural organization within the liver model.

Main Methods:

• Development of a multidisciplinary research program focused on whole-organ liver modeling.
• Construction of a large battery of interconnected submodels representing liver anatomy and physiology.
• Integration of multi-scale processes to capture complex liver functions.

Main Results:

• Outlined the general architecture for the ambitious whole-organ liver model.
• Presented the initial steps taken towards achieving the goal of a comprehensive liver simulation.
• Established a framework for integrating diverse biological data into a unified model.

Conclusions:

• The development of a whole-organ liver model is a significant advancement in systems medicine.
• This model holds promise for understanding liver diseases and improving drug safety and efficacy.
• The presented approach provides a foundation for future research in computational liver physiology.