HIIT to Collaborate in Building a ‘Virtual Patient’ Model

Press release in Finnish found here.

Aalto University has obtained an Associate Partner status in a Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) flagship pilot project called IT Future of Medicine (ITFoM). The vision of the project is to build a personalised patient model, a ‘virtual patient‘. It is aimed at supporting clinicians and general practitioners in their decision-making for medical therapy. The virtual patient will allow doctors to choose the optimal treatment for each individual and predict future health risks.

The basis for the ‘virtual patient’ model are data on the genetic make-up of an individual and data on protein and metabolite levels which indicate the health status of a patient. Together with these molecular data, the model will make use of anatomical and physiological data, as well as information of patients’ life styles and living environments.

Decisions on specific medical treatments for patients can be based on data analysed by the model. ‘Virtual patients’ will aid medical practitioners in choosing drugs with the optimal effect on each individual patient. This will drastically reduce unwanted or even harmful side-effects of drugs.

The Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) consortium consists of about 70 partner institutions with internationally acknowledged researchers from academia and industry. FET is coordinated by Professor Dr Hans Lehrach from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin. The consortium operates in the EU Framework Program for Research and Technological Development which funds frontier research of radically new scientific vision. Flagship projects such as the ITFoM are large-scale, science-driven and mission-oriented initiatives which claim to cutting edge technological goals.

Further enquiries:
ITFoM Managing Office
Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics
Ihnestr. 63–73 14195 Berlin, Germany
Tel: +49 30 8413 1614
Email: itfom@molgen.mpg.de
webpage: www.itfom.eu

More information on Aalto University's activities on ITFoM:
Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT
Aalto University, School of Science
P.O. Box 19215
00076 Aalto
Tel. 050 384 1501
http://www.hiit.fi
ella.bingham@hiit.fi, antti.honkela@hiit.fi, samuel.kaski@hiit.fi