Icelandic supercomputers have been used to create a sort of digital “twin” of the human heart, RÚV reports. The three dimensional test heart has many potential applications in medicine, such as testing of new drugs. Icelandic company Advania Data Centre took part in the project in collaboration with Stanford University’s Faculty of Medicine and German-American tech company Ubercloud. Advania hosted the computers, put them together and worked on them.
Gísli Kr. Katrínarson, specialist at Advania Data Centre, says the heart is set up digitally and could be considered a sort of twin of the human heart.
“What’s exciting about these digital twins is that they can be applied not just to medical issues rather for example to something like an aircraft engine or car engine. The digital twin can be placed in a variety of situations to test what it can and can’t withstand which makes it possible to come to a better conclusion on how it’s best to produce things, for example in this case which drug can be given and which drug can’t,” he says.
One of the many applications of the digital twin would be in screening patients when they arrive at a hospital to determine which medicine they may be given. The twin could also eliminate the need for human or animal drug testing.
Gísli says Advania will continue to contribute to other important projects. “We are now entering a project where there is brain scanning involved. There research is being done on which measures can be taken to prevent schizophrenia or what treatment can be applied to schizophrenia.”
