Viceconti Marco, Clapworthy Gordon, Van Sint Jan Serge
Laboratorio di Tecnologia Medica, Istituti Ortopedici Rizzoli, Italy.
J Physiol Sci. 2008 Dec;58(7):441-6. doi: 10.2170/physiolsci.RP009908. Epub 2008 Oct 21.
The Virtual Physiological Human (VPH) is an initiative, strongly supported by the European Commission (EC), that seeks to develop an integrated model of human physiology at multiple scales from the whole body through the organ, tissue, cell and molecular levels to the genomic level. VPH had its beginnings in 2005 with informal discussions amongst like-minded scientists which led to the STEP project, a Coordination Action funded by the EC that began in early 2006. The STEP project greatly accelerated the progress of the VPH and proved to be a catalyst for wide-ranging discussions within Europe and for outreach activities designed to develop a broad international approach to the huge scientific and technological challenges involved in this area. This paper provides an overview of the VPH and the developments it has engendered in the rapidly expanding worldwide activities associated with the physiome. It then uses one particular project, the Living Human Project, to illustrate the type of advances that are taking place to further the aims of the VPH and similar initiatives worldwide.
虚拟生理人（VPH）是一项在欧盟委员会（EC）大力支持下的计划，旨在构建一个从全身到器官、组织、细胞和分子水平，再到基因组水平的多尺度人体生理综合模型。VPH始于2005年，当时志同道合的科学家们进行了非正式讨论，由此催生了STEP项目，这是一个由欧盟委员会资助的协调行动项目，于2006年初启动。STEP项目极大地加速了VPH的进展，并成为欧洲范围内广泛讨论以及旨在为该领域所涉及的巨大科技挑战制定广泛国际方法的推广活动的催化剂。本文概述了VPH及其在与生理组相关的全球迅速扩展的活动中所引发的发展。然后，本文以一个特定项目——“活体人类项目”为例，来说明为推进VPH及全球类似计划的目标正在取得的进展类型。
