Back in 2017 SofTMech awarded funding for a short feasibility study led by Dr Paul Watton of the University of Sheffield and Anne Robertson of the University of Pittsburgh entitiled "Mathematical Modelling of bladder mechanobiology during development and aging" 6 years on the partnership between the two Universities continues and has been awarded a 3.2 million National Institute of Research R01 grant to create a digital twin of the bladder.

A Digital Twin for Designing Bladder Treatment informed by Bladder Outlet Obstruction Mechanobiology (BOOM)

The project will see the creation of a digital twin, a 3D digital model of the bladder, to simulate its response to obstruction and better understand its behaviour.

The digital twin aims to improve treatment strategies and predict outcomes.

Bladder Outlet Obstruction (BOO) is a common problem with Men aged over 50 having a high percentage chance of being affected. 

“Our team, which is composed of engineers, medical doctors, biologists, and computer scientists, is highly multidisciplinary so we can properly simulate the key components of the organ in normal and BOO bladders,” said Anne Robertson, co-principal investigator and distinguished service professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering.

Currently, surgical outcomes have a low success rate, which is why there is such a need to understand the underlying issues of BOO. 

“We have an opportunity here to capitalize and build on the tools and computational approaches that have already been developed for other organs to rapidly increase our understanding of bladder biomechanics,” said Dr. Paul Watton, co-principal investigator and Head of the Complex Systems Modellings research group, Department of Computer Science at the University of Sheffield.

“Our limited understanding of the condition and the bladder more generally is in stark contrast to, for example, the heart for which we have sophisticated biomechanical models,” Dr Watton added.

Using computational tools, the digital twin would be calibrated in real-time with personalised, clinical data so it could be used to predict the likelihood of success of a particular course of treatment, be it pharmacological or surgical. The outcomes of these predictions are then fed back into the computational models to improve the accuracy of future predictions.

In the past both cities of Sheffield and Pittsburgh were renowned for their steel industries. Today both Universities are at the cutting edge of research into healthcare technologies as they join together in Pioneering technology aimed to uncover the mysteries of a bladder dysfunction.

This report is compiled from the press releases of the two Universities. 

Research Associate Position linked to this award Closing date 21st January 2024.  See link for full details 

 

---

First published: 12 October 2023