Modeling Human Physiology: The IUPS/EMBS Physiome Project

The Physiome Project is an international collaboration to provide a framework for understanding human physiology, from proteins and cells to tissues and organs, with multiscale models that use computational techniques derived from engineering and software approaches from computer science. With the increasing interest in modeling living systems from research scientists in many branches of mathematics, physics, and engineering, it is timely to review what has been achieved, what lessons can be learned from the efforts so far, and what needs to be done to facilitate the international collaboration that is essential to the project´s success. In particular, we review the development of models at spatial scales from genes and proteins to the whole body, and the development of standards, tools, and databases to facilitate multiscale modeling. Some applications of the physiome models are described, including applications in medical diagnostics, the design of medical devices, virtual surgery, surgical training, and medical education.