Return to 2012 MSM Working Group discussions
Workgroup Activities
Workgroup Discussion Topics
Edited book effort (Multiscale Modeling in Biomechanics and Mechanobiology) Suvranu De, Wanmuk Hwang and Ellen Kuhl
Biomechanics: interactions between forces and biological systems Mechanobiology: how cells produce and respond to mechanical forces
Bridge
Disciplines of Mechanics, Molecular Biology and Genetics
At least two spatial and/or temporal scales
• Topics
Coarse-grained modeling of biomolecular dynamics and processes
Linking individual proteins to multi-protein complexes
Linking subcellular processes to single- to multi-cellular behaviors
Linking multi-cellular to tissue and organ level models
• Structure of chapters:
1. Background: What is the general biology problem ? What are the scales involved?
2. Multiscale computational challenges: Why is multiscale modeling necessary to address the problem? What are the major challenges?
3. Methods: What specific methods were developed to address the challenges?
4. Results
5. Open questions: what is the current status of the field? what are the open multiscale questions? where do you expect the field to be in 5 years?
•Topics to dicuss (Vasilis)
1. Key modeling principles that are unique to Multi-Scale Modeling (MSM) in biomedical Sciences.
2. Methodological challenges associated with the key modeling principles in MSM.
3. Assessment of computational means for addressing the methodological challenges identified above.
4. The state of the art in current computational methods of MSM in various biomedical domains.
5. Development of a Directory of current public-domain computational resources for MSM.
Discussion Summary
2012 MSM Meeting (Oct. 24, NIH; Wonmuk Hwang, scribe)
articipants' backgrounds: Mechanical, Electrical, Physics, Bioengineering
Where do we see the MSM methodology go in 20-years?
MSM methods are diverse: Need a list of techniques
Taxonomy of different kinds of MSM?
Error estimation: uncertainty propagation in the linking procedure?
Clarify assumptions made when going from lower to higher scale; necessary because number of unknowns increase at the smaller scale... we don't know all the components in a cell.
Justify particular choice for representing the system at any given level.
Issue of equilibrium across different scales?
Methods should be bidirectional; not just coarse-graining, but larger scale study should also provide information (constraints) in smaller scale processes.
What do we achieve by building MSM?
Need to have separate discussion on MSM in TIME, not just in space.
It is very difficult to do both translational research & method development, in contrast to what was said during the MSM meeting.
- What to do as a WG for the next year?
Email to the group asking to provide input about how two scales can be linked.
Link up with systems biology
The current WG don't show in Google under the keyword MSM. It will be better for our web site to become a more useful resource for those seeking MSM methods.
- Example MSM related topics:
Jacob Fish: polymer melts to continuum model http://civil.columbia.edu/jacob-fish
Nonlinear continuum mechanics with finite deformation
Brain implant (fluid/solid mech)
PLANS FOR 2013
1. ASME 2013 Global conference on Nanoengineering in Biology and Medicine http://www.asmeconferences.org/NEMB2013/HotelInfo.cfm Boston, Feb 4-6, 2013. Track 5: Multiscale modeling and experiment in Biology and Medicine, invited Bruce Shapiro from NIH to deliver Keynote.
2. 11th international Symposium on Computer Methods on Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, Utah April 3-6, 2013, http://cmbbe13.sci.utah.edu/
3. Edited book on "Multiscale Modeling in Biomechanics and Mechanobiology" with Wonmuk Hwang and Ellen Kuhl as co-editors. 17 authors already accepted. deadline for submission of chapters April 2013.