STEP Action: Mission accomplished

Dear Colleagues:
A few days ago the IST program published the first public draft of the <FP7 ICT Work Programme 2007-08>
ftp://ftp.cordis.lu/pub/fp7/ict/docs/ict-wp-2007-08-draft-ist-2006.pdf

The work programme, whose text should not be changed in the final official version, includes under <Challenge 5: Towards sustainable and personalised healthcare> the objective <ICT-2007.5.3: Virtual Physiological Human>. The first call for this objective will be FP7-ICT-2007-2, which should be published in the second part of 2007; the Indicative budget distribution is 72 Millions Euro. The detailed description of the objective can be found at the end of this message.

The call will be for one Network of Excellence (NoE), two Coordination and support actions (CSA), and some IP/STRP research projects.
The NoE will have the responsibility of integrating European VPH research through networking activities as well as through a jointly executed research on methodological issues and mechanisms that favour sharing knowledge, multidisciplinary training programmes and reusable software tools. The CSA will address one security and privacy in VPH, and the second international cooperation.

In our opinion the text of the work programme strongly reflects the vision and the topics emerged during the consensus process we promoted as STEP action. In this sense we want to congratulate with all those who contributed to this process this that we consider a fundamental achievement toward the realisation of the VPH.

Now the challenge is to translate that vision and that consensus into good research proposals, presented by solid consortia, aimed to deliver as soon as possible tangible results so as to demonstrate that VPH is really the great thing we all believe it is.

Regards

Marco Viceconti
On behalf of the STEP consortium



ICT-2007.5.3: Virtual Physiological Human
Target outcomes:
Patient-specific computer models for personalised and predictive healthcare and ICT-based tools for modelling and simulation of human physiology and disease-related processes.
a) Patient-specific computational modelling and simulation of organs or systems targeting specific clinical needs such as prediction of diseases, early diagnosis, disease quantification, surgery planning, treatment and training. The computational models should go beyond the state of the art of available models and be multilevel when appropriate. Projects will address one or more of the clinical application areas defined under the third bullet <Clinical applications and demonstrations>.
b) Data integration and new knowledge extraction: Innovative software tools for data mining, representation, formalisation and image processing able to integrate heterogeneous multimedia information from distributed databases. These tools will be developed specifically for (1) Coupling scientific research data with clinical and large empirical databases with focus on the association of genotype-related data and phenotype-related data with specific computational models of diseases and treatments; (2) Automated image processing and analysis for the extraction of bio-medical parameters/markers used to assess the presence or evolution of a disease, focusing on specific organs and/or disease and demonstrating quantitative benefits in diagnosis and prognosis. Projects will address one of the clinical application areas defined under the third bullet <Clinical applications and demonstrations>.
c) Clinical applications and demonstration of tangible benefits of patient-specific computational models: All projects addressing the two technical bullets above will fall into one of the following application areas: (1) Intelligent medical simulation environments for surgery training, planning and interventions; (2) Prediction of disease or early diagnosis by integrating patient specific knowledge and predispositions obtained in biomedical imaging; (3) Advanced environment for simulation and assessment of the efficacy and safety of specific drugs. All models will be fully verified and validated, so that they can be deployed as part of an ICT infrastructure that provides integral access to clinical users. The use of open environments and open-source software is expected to allow for future extensions of models.
d) Networking action on integrating European research in the field of multilevel modelling and simulation of human anatomy and physiology. Sustainable integration will be achieved through a rather limited partnership with demonstrated scientific excellence. Jointly executed research will focus on methodological issues and mechanisms that favour sharing knowledge, multidisciplinary training programmes and reusable software tools.
e) Coordination and support actions on (1) Enhancing security and privacy in VPH, in particular for patient data processed over distributed networks. The proposed solutions will address the implications of the use of genetic data, e.g. genetic predispositions, and identify the required technology developments and implementation challenges. (2) Specific International Cooperation Action on healthcare information systems based on Grid capabilities. Insight into research activities undertaken in the target countries of Latin America, Western Balkans, Mediterranean countries, aiming at optimizing the use of bio-medical data and computing resources. New opportunities for collaboration will be explored and a set of future activities identified.

Expected impact:
- New environments for predictive, individualised, evidence based, more effective and safer healthcare. Reduced medical errors and improved patient safety through simulation of adverse drug effects on patient models. Accelerated development of safer drugs and medical devices through in-silico environments.
- Improved semantic interoperability of biomedical information and contribution to a common health information infrastructure.
- Strengthened leadership of EU medical imaging industry contributing to attracting back to Europe the research activities of the pharmaceutical industry.
- Increased European multidisciplinary research excellence in biomedical informatics and molecular medicine by fostering closer cooperation between ICT, medical device, medical imaging, pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

Funding schemes
a-c): CP; d): NoE; e): CSA
Indicative budget distribution: 72 M€:
a-c): CP 62 M€ of which a minimum of 22 M€ for IP and a minimum of 22 M€ for STREP
d): Up to one NoE with a maximum EC funding of 8 M€
e): CSA 2 M€ - Up to one CSA per topic with a maximum EC funding of 1 M€
Call FP7-ICT-2007-2