Motivation

Modern medical and life science can make far more detailed and high-resolution investigations than was previously possible. For example, MRI can non-invasively visualize complex anatomies and blood flow patterns in the circulation. However, our ability to make use of these large-scale data to generate new scientific knowledge or new clinical advancements is limited by our ability to integrate these data with other sources of information and to perform mechanistic and predictive analyses with them. While there have been many advances in computational biology and scientific computing, there remain critical bottlenecks. Key among these is the ability to compose efficiently and solve accurately and robustly the complex three-dimensional physical problems involved in physiological processes such as the flow of blood or cerebrospinal fluid, the distribution of airborne particles through the airways, or the electrical and mechanical function the heart. Hence, there is a great need to bring together expertise in software design, mathematics, and biomedical modeling to develop, deploy, and apply new computational tools for complex three-dimensional problems in biomedicine and to translate them to clinical practice. This is exactly the mission of this Center of Excellence.

Blood flow in the brain is a key research topic at CBC.

About

The Center for Biomedical Computing (CBC) aims at advancing computational methodologies for simulating complex physics in important problems affecting human health. The research is truly multi-disciplinary and brings together experts in physical modeling, mathematics, numerical methods, scientific software development, bioengineering, medical research, and clinical practice.

CBC Annual Reports

• CBC Annual Report 2007
• CBC Annual Report 2008
• CBC Annual Report 2009
• CBC Annual Report 2010
• CBC Annual Report 2011
• CBC Annual Report 2012

 

CBC Midterm Evaluation

The midterm evaluation of CBC was conducted by the Research Council in the fall of 2010, three and a half years after start-up of the Center. The self-evaluation was submitted on Dec 1, 2010, and detailed feedback from scientific experts was received in the winter of 2011. The appointed international committee for the evaluation of the eight Centers of Excellence with startup in 2007 met with the CBC management in March 2011. In this meeting we presented the main results and the remaining challenges for the period 2012-2017. The committee asked in- sightful questions and demonstrated a thorough understanding of the mission, the achievements, and the potential of CBC, a fact that was further reinforced in their final report.
The evaluation report awarded the center with the highest possible grade: exceptionally good.

We were especially pleased by their opening remarks about the center:
CBC is a perfect example of the benefits of the Centres of Excellence, in that the establishment of the Centre has created the opportunity for developing a much broader vision than originally planned (tools developed have wide-spread applications to coupled multi-physics problems) so that the Centre has already exceeded its original ambitions, and, in the process developed unanticipated new national and international collaborations.

The evaluation committee commended our efforts in securing additional external funding, our role in the establishment of the Centre for Research Based Innovation (CCI), and our success in developing collaborations that provide necessary expertise to the Center. In closing, there were five recommendations for our next 5- year period, which we will obviously pay close attention to in years to come:

1. The Evaluation Committee recommends that the Centre put significant effort into increasing its visibility in the biomedical field, and in particular, in expanding its publications in the biomedical scientific literature.
2. CBC should also work on building their international profile and ensure the wide use of computational tools that it has created (and will create in the future).
3. The Evaluation Committee also recommends that CBC take advantage of the newly funded Centre for Research Based Innovation to build its exit strategy.
4. Efforts should continue to provide assistance to the Director so that he can pursue high quality research while managing the Centre.
5. The Centre should continue its efforts to establish a training program for a new generation of biomedical researchers with strong skills in fluid dynamic modelling and modelling of cardiac electrical activity.

These recommendations fit very well with our research plan for the second five-year period, and we have already taken additional steps in this direction by incorporating some of them in our milestones plan. We are therefore happy to be on track with our research plans and ambitions, and are excited about continuing our research after this glowing review of the center.

For further information on the midterm evaluation of CBC and the other Norwegian Centres of Excellence, please visit:

• The CBC midterm evaluation report
• Documents prepared for the CBC midterm evaluation

 

Status 2011

CBC was founded on the basis of an ambitious and fairly detailed research plan. Research activity in the Center has followed this plan closely, with a few minor exceptions only, and in some areas we have substantially exceeded our expectations of scientific progress. The tightly integrated work in numerical methods and software have led to remarkable progress in automating finite element computations, and the biomedical flows activities have been much more comprehensive and productive than anticipated. We have established close and effective collaborations with world-leading medical experts, and have published several simulation-based papers in high-impact medical journals. Moreover, the Center has released significant external funding, resulting in a total budget that is now four times the direct funding from the Research Council. The extended activity aims at fulfilling a broader and more unified vision, which has led to research impact of increased breadth and depth.

Among other highlights, we will mention the development of novel mathematical models for improved understanding of cardiac arrhythmias as well as how drug intervention may stabilize the heartbeats. In addition, we have developed models that describe the interplay between electrical signaling and muscle contraction in the heart, which can aid in the investigation of the mechanisms of heart failure. A novel modeling framework has been formulated for particle transport in fluids, with very promising capabilities also for dense particle flows. We have recently proposed new blood flow indicators for better diagnostics in the prediction of stroke. Also of significant clinical potential is our use of mathematical models to build improved ECG apparatus to detect the early stages of heart infarction.

An expected high-impact result is the open source FEniCS software suite, which represents a breakthrough in scientific software technology for solving partial differential equations. This software suite is an invaluable computational tool throughout the Center.