The 3rd VPH Barcelona Summer School

The event was co-organized by the Barcelona MedTech - Universitat Pompeu Fabra and the Virtual Physiological Human Institute and it focused on data integration, model verification and validation. The summer school was split into morning and afternoon sessions. In the morning sessions, there were presentations from eminent researchers from broad disciplines covering the theme of the summer school. Each morning session was dedicated to a basic theme such as  pathophysiology, input measurements, multiscale/multiphysics models, computational aspects of model verification and validation and clinical applications. The lectures gave a clear view of the ongoing research in the various fields. It also gave an idea about the challenges and some success stories  in translating in-silico research to the clinics. It was a great opportunity for young researchers to connect to one another and also with eminent researchers in the respective fields during the coffee hours.

The afternoon sessions were aimed at hands-on training for the summer school participants. There were three topics for the hands-on:

• Electrophysiology simulations in a fetal heart, imaged using micro-CT synchrotron imaging
  
• Analysis of normal and altered gait analysis and consequences on cartilage biology and mechanobiology
  
• Simulating different flow regimes in the left atrium
  

Satanik Mukherjee from KU Leuven says: "I attended hands-on training on cartilage mechanobiology, which included motion capture in the UPF MoCA lab, followed by gait analysis and finite element modelling of articular cartilage. Then, by using a multiscale modelling approach, the finite element model was coupled with an Agent Based Model of articular cartilage. The hands-on were really well organised and included both experimental and modelling approaches, introducing us to the entire workflow of multiscale modelling of articular cartilage. A precious experience!"

On the concluding day of the summer school, participating students presented their work in the hands-on. The multiscale model for articular cartilage was judged as the best hands-on by the jury. In addition to the hands-on, there were posters presented by the participants, which fueled discussions and exchange of ideas during the coffee breaks.

The Summer School was also enriched by social events, such as the visit to the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre and an evening of Catalan beer tasting, which provided favorable opportunities for the participants to get to know each other and discuss about research and ideas.

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