Regeneration and wound healing are both complex processes driven by cytokines and triggered by inflammation. Due to the complexity of the inflammatory response, simulation and modeling may offer the only possibility for accurate, systems-level predictions. Investigators at the Center for Inflammation and Regeneration Modeling have created a series of mathematical models of acute inflammation in both sepsis and trauma settings.
Description
To do this, researchers have developed a computer-generated biological simulation of the wound healing process for a variety of diseases and conditions along with the effects of known therapies. This technology shows the interrelated effects of inflammation, tissue damage and dysfunction, and tissue healing to predict an outcome of damaged tissue healing in vivo. This is an agent-based model capable of qualitatively reproducing much of the literature data on skin wound healing, including changes in relevant skin types like macrophages, neutrophils, and fibroblasts along with modeling cytokines like tumor necrosis factor, interleukin-10, and transforming growth factor-1. Included is a damage variable that both induces and is induced by inflammation, and model of collagen to represent healing.
Applications
• Simulation of wound healing processes
• Simulation of effects of possible therapies for a variety of conditions such as diabetic foot ulcers, vocal fold tissue healing, necrotizing enterocolitis, restenosis, inflammatory bowel diseases, pancreatitis, tissue trauma, surgery, and otitis media
• Demonstration of the interactions between multiple biological agents and their environment during the healing process
• Clinical trial simulation
• Patient-specific simulations for diagnosis and individualized treatment
Advantages
• Simulates how inflammation interacts with damaged tissue
• Suggests broad range of interventions and treatments
• Reduction of cost, time, labor, and resources during clinical validation of
agents
• Personalizable
Invention Readiness
In silico
IP Status
https://patents.google.com/patent/US8165819B2; https://patents.google.com/patent/US8630810B2
