#computer model

[bpod-bpod]

Digital Beats

Ventricular tachycardia is the medical term for an abnormally rapid heartbeat originating in the heart’s lower chambers. It might last a few seconds without causing problems, but longer bouts can cause unconsciousness and even death. If the site of the electrical misfiring is identified, it can be specifically and surgically destroyed by cardiac ablation. But pinpointing the site is difficult, the procedure can be lengthy and success isn’t guaranteed. Now there’s a way to identify the offending area more accurately and even test if the ablation will work before attempting it in the patient. Created from imaging data collected during a specialised form of 3D MRI, the digital twin of a patient’s heart (shown) allows visualisation of the flow of electricity with each beat revealing the problematic site (labeled VT). In a recent clinical trial of such digital twin-directed ablation, all ten patients were arrythmia-free more than a year later.

Written by Ruth Williams

Video from work by Jonathan Chrispin and Adityo Prakosa, and colleagues

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

Video originally published with no restrictions – hence published here with as Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Research published in New England Journal of Medicine, April 2026

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Bluesky

[creativewildsdesign]

Finished Kirby print! I still need to touch up some spots and remove support material from the underside of Kirby, but the print looks great! I actually had to adjust the star trail after the print finished since the figurine was falling backwards and not sitting properly. I’ll need to adjust the 3d model next time I want to print this model, but I’m going to continue with working on this one and finishing it with paint. It’s not easy to get a print to work right the first time.

[bpod-bpod]

Virtually Vessels

AI-generated vascular models from individual patients' medical images allows analysis of blood flow and vessels to aid diagnosis, research and treatments

Read the published research article here

Image from work by Pan Du and Delin An, and colleagues

Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA

Image contributed by the authors under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence

Published in Science Advances, September 2025

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Bluesky

[bpod-bpod]

Model T Leukaemia

The thymic niche is the framework of cells, such as thymic epithelial cells (TECs), and factors that nurture the immune system's T cells to develop in the thymus (a gland that lies in your upper chest between the lungs). Here, using computational tools and modelling to create a virtual thymus researchers demonstrate that changes to the niche composition can provoke the massive proliferation akin to T-cell leukaemia (TECs are represented as grey with other cell types in colours)

Read the published research article here

Video from work by Erika Tsingos, Advaita M Dick & Baubak Bajoghli

Computational Developmental Biology Group, Institute of Biodynamics and Biocomplexity, Utrecht University, Netherlands; Department of Hematology, Oncology, Immunology, and Rheumatology, University Hospital of Tübingen, Germany

Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in eLife, September 2025

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Bluesky

[bpod-bpod]

Making a Difference

One of the challenges to treating cancer is that it's part of a supportive living body – welcoming blood vessels often reach out to feed the cancerous tissue, a process called angiogenesis. And just as each of our bodies develop differently, so do tumours, complicating the design of drugs, or surgical procedures. Here a new combination of 3D magnetic resonance microscopy and computer modelling investigates the differences, or heterogeneity, of three breast tumours growing in mice. The top row highlights different patterns of blood vessels in similar cancers, with regions of fast flowing blood highlighted in warm colours. Below, pinks and purples show the corresponding oxygen levels in the blood supply. Learning more about the haemodynamics of different tumours, may reveal more about what they have in common – creating a sort of ‘cancer atlas’ and identifying weaknesses for future therapies.

Written by John Ankers

Image from work by Spyros K. Stamatelos and colleagues

Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, MD, USA

Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)

Published in Scientific Reports, March 2019

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

[bpod-bpod]

Under a Wrist

From typing to eating, driving to lifting, our wrists play a vital role in our daily lives. Here a 3D computer model helps to predict how wrist bones work together. Magnetic resonance imaging scanned the wrists of 18 healthy people, capturing how the bones inside re-organise and collaborate as the joint bends and twists. Pooling information from men and women of different ages produced this general model of ten interlocking bones, but also revealed a strong similarity between left and right wrists, and that male wrist bones are generally larger. The model may now help to make predictions about the effects of injury or disease to our overall manoeuvrability – helping to understand painful conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome.

Written by John Ankers

Image by Brent Foster and Abhijit Chaudhari, UC Davis

University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA

Image copyright held by the original authors

Research published in the Journal of Biomechanics, March 2019

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

[bpod-bpod]

Misshapen Minds

Mess tends to build up slowly, gradually gathering until you’re suddenly overrun with clutter and can’t find anything you need. A similar accumulation of unwanted debris can happen in the brain, resulting in conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Misshapen proteins clump to form plaques that clog up the brain. Understanding and predicting how this clutter gathers might help spot and stave off illnesses, so researchers have developed a new simulation of the process. They examined the formations in recently deceased patients’ brains, and then modelled how they would have taken shape. Although the diseases are incredibly complex, this progression is surprisingly consistent. Their simulations, such as the Alzheimer’s development pictured with the memory-wrecking protein amyloid beta in orange, and destructive tau protein in blue, illustrate formations that can develop over 30 years. Better understanding of how small clumps spread to engulf the brain might help earlier diagnosis, and eventually better treatments.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Video courtesy of the Living Matter Lab, Stanford University

Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

Video/image copyright held by the Living Matter Lab, Stanford University

Research published in Physical Review Letters, October 2018

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook