INTRODUCTION

In the study of human biology and in clinical practice, the concept of anatomy unifies a number of scientific, engineering and biomedical disciplines.

This meeting will present efforts by the Virtual Physiological Human (VPH) community, as well as other specialities, to model human structure and its function. This event also aims to advance the computational unification of anatomy in biological and pharmacological databases, physiological models, radiological images and clinical records.

Updates on key research in academia and industry will include the modelling of concepts (e.g. disease ontologies), structures (e.g. biochemical compartments, volumetric data) and processes (e.g. pharmacokinetics, blood pressure regulation). Ways to foster the interoperability of such modelling methods will also be explored, together with approaches to improve access to clinical phenotypic data for basic research.

This event sets the stage for establishing a community toolkit for the rigorous representation of human anatomy and the close study of its dynamic change in physiology, its orchestrated moulding in development, and its distortion in disease.

The meeting is divided into four sessions: 1) Concepts of Anatomy and Disease (chair: Lynn Schriml, University of Maryland). 2) Organizing anatomical models (chair: Bernard de Bono, EMBL -EBI). 3) Modeling anatomical physiology (chair: Dan Cook, University of Washington School of Medicine). 4) Bridging across anatomical scales (chair: Jesper Tenger, Karolinska Institute).

VENUE AND REGISTRATION

The venue for this meeting is the Francis Crick Auditorium at the Wellcome Trust Conference Centre (http://www.wtconference.org.uk/).

This meeting is hosted by EMBL -EBI and sponsored by EMBL -EBI (Industry Programme) and VPH Network of Excellence (http://www.vph-noe.eu/) with funding from the European Commission. There is no charge for attendance, howewer, delegates must register in advance.

If you would like to attend please email Liz Ford (ford@ebi.ac.uk) stating your name, affiliation and whether you would use transport between Cambridge and Hinxton on the day, if available. CLOSING DATE FOR REGISTRATIONS IS 21st JANUARY 2009 .