IT’IS in Nature and Announcement of the First Neuro-Functionalized Computational Anatomical Model

IT’IS achieves a major milestone with the development of the first neuro-functionalized ViP phantom Yoon-sun V4-0 with detailed and verified peripheral nerve trajectories

Our advanced neurostimulation tools have proven crucial in the guided placement of electrodes for restoring movement in patients with spinal cord injuries leading to permanent motor deficits or complete paralysis as reported in a study¹ recently published in the journal Nature. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) called the new targeted neurotechnology, developed by a large research team led by Prof. Jocelyne Bloch of Lausanne University Hospital and Prof. Grégoire Courtine of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) a "biblical moment for medicine". We are proud to have contributed to this successful research, and we look forward to further such rewarding research collaborations.

As our hard work towards the goal of providing state-of-the-art neurostimulation tools for a wide range of applications continues, we are further pleased to announce the release of our first neuro-functionalized whole-body Virtual Population (ViP) model Yoon-sun V4-0, the result of an ongoing exciting research collaboration with the Ajou University School of Medicine, Dongguk University College of Medicine, DYMSTEC, and HCTM (read more about the Swiss-Korean collaborative project NEUROMAN here). Based on the recently released Yoon-sun cV3-1 model, this next-generation phantom is far more refined with a four-fold increase in the number of tissues segmented², and also features neuro-functionalized nerve trajectories that are modeled as splines and assigned default nerve electrophysiology and neuroanatomy parameters according to literature data. The spline trajectories and tissue anatomy are compatible with the Sim4Life T-NEURO tissue simulation module.

Yoon-sun V4-0: Some tissues, in particular the peripheral nerves, muscles, arteries, and veins have been segmented in greater detail to specifically support novel applications in neurostimulation and exposure/device safety assessment.

This release is scheduled for December 2018 and will soon be followed by the release of the neuro-functionalized male ViP model Jeduk V4-0, also being developed within the framework of the NEUROMAN project.

For more information on Yoon-sun V4-0 or any of our ViP models, contact us at virtualpopulation@itis.swiss.

¹Wagner, F. B. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-018-0262-6 (2018)

²The substantially extended tissue list in V4-0 now includes separately named and delineated nerves, muscles, and blood vessels.