Lots of Interest in Sim4Life Workshop @ Neuroscience 2018

On November 5, 2018, about 60 neuroscientists and representatives of the medical device industry convened at the Sim4Life Workshop at Neuroscience 2018 in San Diego, USA. The event was hosted by Michael Oberle and Habib Bousleiman of ZMT. Distinguished speakers shared their experience and their vision on how the Sim4Life platform can be employed to master a myriad of challenges in bioelectronic medicine.

 “A Computational Framework for the Design and Optimization of Neurotechnologies to Restore Voluntary Motor Control after Paralysis”, was the title of the outstanding keynote lecture given by Marco Capogrosso from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He showed how computational modeling and simulations have helped to establish experimental proof of concepts in pre-clinical studies and how to translate this experience into clinical studies. Marco also highlighted how ZMT’s simulation platform Sim4Life and the high-resolution personalized anatomical model generation functionality were key to address patient specific motor deficits and guide the design and positioning of the stimulating electrodes in several of his studies. His latest results were released earlier this month in a widely-discussed publication that was also reported in a news item by the IT’IS Foundation.

Théo Lemaire from the EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland, provided insights into his research on Low Intensity Focused Ultrasound Stimulation (LIFUS) with a particular focus on the derivation of the computationally effective SONIC model for improved predictions on interactions between neurons and LIFUS. He demonstrated how Sim4Life helped his team to perform multiscale modeling of acoustic wave propagation within the human anatomy in order to predict the resulting electrophysiological neuron response. The unique capabilities of Sim4Life enabled him to formulate testable mechanistic hypotheses and guide the experimental design. 

Silvia Farcito and Antonino Mario Cassará (IT’IS Foundation, Switzerland) introduced the first next generation neuro-functionalized computational anatomical human model Yoon-sun V4.0, and and gave an update on the latest developments and applications of the upcoming version Sim4Life V4.4.  

Esra Neufeld (IT’IS Foundation, Switzerland) outlined the progress and outlook of the o²S²PARC project, one of the three data resource center COREs of the NIH-funded SPARC initiative. The ongoing project aims to provide the scientific community with an open-access online simulation platform for the modeling of nerve-organ interactions within complex physiological environments and for the integration of all computational models established within the SPARC initiative.

Habib Bousleiman concluded the evening with an outlook on selected features of upcoming Sim4Life releases that will enable researchers and engineers to further explore the frontiers in neuroscience. 

All presentations were met with great interest. The attendees enjoyed a light dinner buffet during the event, which was closed with a networking aperitif where participants had the chance to discuss remaining questions and share their experiences with each other.

Once again, many thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of this year's event and don't miss the Sim4Life Workshop @ Neuroscience 2019, which will be held in October 2019 in Chicago, USA!

Dr. Marco Capogrosso, during his keynote presentation

Théo Lemaire from the EPFL Lausanne, delivering his presentation

Dr. Antonino Mario Cassará, giving updates on the latest developments in Sim4Life

Z43 team in front of the ZMT booth