Researchers have simulated the design of cars, aircraft and the like on computers for many years now, but the Gemini consortium now wants to use technologies like these in medicine too. These digital twins are virtual copies of a patient’s organs or bodily functions, simulations generated so that their health risks and the progression of their disease can be predicted and potential treatments can be tested out.
“Computer simulations are still a long way from being standard practice in medicine, even if they have the potential to be an incredibly valuable tool,” says Professor Matthias Braun from the Department of (Social) Ethics at the University of Bonn, who is responsible for Gemini’s research into ethical and regulatory issues. In the project, the researchers want to try out treatments for individual stroke patients on a digital twin first, using the simulation to gauge which work and which do not. They enter the patient’s medical data, such as blood pressure, heart rate and information from their brain scan and then create a kind of “digital copy” on which they can simulate various treatments.
“If it becomes clear that there are several promising options to choose from, the question this ultimately poses is who should make the decision on the patient’s behalf,” Matthias Braun explains. “We’re particularly interested in how much moral and legal agency simulations like these should be given in an emergency. Is the simulation capable of deciding ‘by proxy’ and, if so, should it be allowed to? How far should such a proxy arrangement be permitted to go?” asks the researcher, who is a member of the Modelling, Life & Health and Individuals & Societies Transdisciplinary Research Areas at the University of Bonn.
Over the next four years, the consortium will be developing the technology needed to create digital twins. It has penciled in a further two years to translate it into a computer simulation that can be deployed in clinical practice with the aim of using digital twins to identify bespoke therapies for patients.
Information: https://dth-gemini.eu/
(German) Podcast on the topic: https://www.uni-bonn.de/de/neues/wenn-der-digitale-zwilling-uns-vor-dem-herzinfarkt-warnt