23-24 October, 2008Brussels, Belgium
"Computer modelling and simulation for improving human health" Conference jointly organised by DG INFSO and DG RTD in cooperation with NIH
Major diseases like cancer, neurological and cardiovascular diseases are complex in nature involving environmental, life style, ageing and genetic components. One of the future challenges is to integrate the knowledge of all these different components into robust and fully reliable computer models and "in silico" environments that will help the development and testing of new therapies for better prediction and prevention tools in healthcare.
An integrative research approach is therefore required to better understand the complex mechanisms behind human diseases. In this approach, all processes that occur at multiple levels from molecules to cells, organs and organisms are seen not as separate events but as parts of a multi-scale system which aims at improving the understanding of the human health and diseases.
To face this challenge a new generation of multidisciplinary science fields is emerging at the crossroads of Information Technology, Medicine and Biology that provide "in silico" multi-scale modelling and simulation in medicine and biology. For example, patient-specific computer models of human cells or organs can bring new understanding of disease, support discovery of new drugs or can help visualising the effects of different choices of treatments.
To realise this ambitious vision at the crossroads of Information and Communication Technologies and Biomedical Sciences, researchers from different disciplines must work together on virtually everything that can be observed and measured at multiple biological levels in relation to human physiological diseases. The European Commission is investing in this topic through complementary research programmes in Information and Communication Technologies and Health research.
The Directorate-General Information Society and Media (DG INFSO) supports this integrative research through funding of projects in the area of multi-scale modelling and simulation known as the "Virtual Physiological Human" (VPH) initiative. The Directorate-General Research (DG RTD) supports through funding of projects in the areas of health research and systems biology.
This two-day conference will provide an insight into existing and future prospects of this research area on both the European and international scenes. The objectives of this conference will be:
- to communicate the opportunities and challenges of the Virtual Physiological Human and Integrative System Biology and other topics that lie at the crossroads of ICT, Biology and Medicine;
- to provide the possibility for discussions on progress beyond the current state of the art and to promote international cooperation and networking;
- to provide an overview about the current activities in these domains not only in EU but also in US and other countries, and to examine opportunities for closer cooperation between EU and US funding agencies.
Two sattelite events will occur at the side of the conference (same venue):
- the First Transatlantic workshop on Multi-scale Cancer Modelling supported by the European Commission and the NIH National Cancer Institute. The workshop will focus on topics related to computational and mathematical cancer modelling.
- the concertation meeting of projects supported by the European Commission
The conference website will be available in April and registration will be open from mid-May. More information will be published on the Europa eHealth newsroom and sent via the eHealth Newsletter in the meantime.
For further information:
ICT for Health
European Commission - Information Society and Media DG
Office: BU31 06/73 B-1049 Brussels
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tel: +32 2 296 41 94
Fax: +32 2 296 01 81
http://europa.eu/information_society/eHealth