Professor Peter Hunter

Peter Hunter FRS Professor of Engineering Science Director, Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Bio

Prof Hunter completed an engineering degree in 1971 in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (now Engineering Science) at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, a Master of Engineering degree in 1972 (Auckland) on solving the equations of arterial blood flow and a DPhil (PhD) in Physiology at the University of Oxford in 1975 on finite element modeling of ventricular mechanics.

His major research interests since then have been modelling many aspects of the human body using specially developed computational algorithms and an anatomically and biophysically based approach which incorporates detailed anatomical and microstructural measurements and material properties into the continuum models. The interrelated electrical, mechanical and biochemical functions of the heart, for example, have been modelled in the first 'physiome' model of an organ.

As the current co-Chair of the Physiome Committee of the International Union of Physiological Sciences he is helping to lead the international Physiome Project which aims to use computational methods for understanding the integrated physiological function of the body in terms of the structure and function of tissues, cells and proteins.

He is currently a Professor of Engineering Science and Director of the Bioengineering Institute at the University of Auckland, Director of Computational Physiology at Oxford University and holds honorary or visiting Professorships at a number of Universities. He is on the scientific advisory boards of a number of Research Institutes in Europe, the US and the Asia-Pacific region. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society (London and NZ), the World Council for Biomechanics, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the International Academy of Medical & Biological Engineering.

Cardiac Modeling & the Physiome Project
From ion channels and protein pathways to integrative cell,
tissue and organ function

Peter Hunter, FRS
Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract

Models of ventricular mechanics have been developed over the last 20 years to include finite deformation theory, anisotropic and inhomogeneous material properties and an accurate representation of ventricular geometry using finite element methods. The sequence of electrical activation in the myocardium is also modeled using ionic current based cellular models and reaction-diffusion equations at the tissue level solved with multi-grid techniques on a fine resolution mesh defined in the material coordinates of the deforming finite element mechanics mesh. The first part of this talk will describe the development of a finite element model of the geometry and fibrous-sheet structure of the pig myocardium applied to the solution of the equations governing cardiac electro-mechanics.

The second part of the talk will discuss the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) Physiome Project, which is an internationally collaborative open-source project to provide a public domain framework for computational physiology, including the development of modeling standards, computational tools and web-accessible databases of models of structure and function at all spatial scales [1,2]. It aims to develop an infrastructure for linking models of biological structure and function across multiple levels of spatial organization and multiple time scales. The levels of biological organisation, from genes to the whole organism, includes gene regulatory networks, protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions, protein pathways, integrative cell function, tissue and whole heart structure-function relations.

References

1. Hunter, P.J. and Borg, T.K. Integration from proteins to organs: The Physiome Project. Nature Reviews Molecular and Cell Biology. 4, 237-243, 2003.
2. Hunter, P.J. and Nielsen, P.M.F. A strategy for integrative computational physiology. Physiology. 20,316-325, 2005.