Bright Ideas: Virtual bodies

Scientists say being able to 'dissect' the virtual body will have many real-world applications. Photo / Supplied

Duane Malcolm
Research fellow, Auckland Bioengineering Institute

Imagine if you could create a virtual version of yourself that not only replicated your physical presence, but also included information on how you functioned and socialised.

It sounds like Facebook on steroids, but in fact it's already being done, with the aim of predicting what our future capabilities might be.

At Auckland's Bioengineering Institute (ABI), Duane Malcolm is one of 150 people developing virtual bodies that might eventually be used to help people "try on" shoes and clothes online, plan a surgical process, plan and track an exercise programme, or predict the aging process.

The virtual body starts by replicating minute "slices" from a scan of a real body and putting them back together. It goes without saying that the smaller the slices, the more accurate the model will be. So far, the Chinese lead the field, with slices just 0.25mm thick.

The bodies are incredibly realistic, and in fact an ABI graduate, Mark Sagar, is now working for Weta Digital, integrating aspects of the technology into Weta's modelling capability (seen, for example, in the wrinkling of King Kong's skin in the Peter Jackson movie).

Solving these mathematical equations consumes so much New Zealand computing power it is second only to what Niwa uses for climate modelling.

The project is a spin-off from another major international effort known as the Physiome Project.

Led by ABI director Peter Hunter, it aims to provide a framework for modelling the human body using computational methods that can incorporate the biochemistry, biophysics and anatomy of cells, tissues and organs. It is hoped that such models will be used to help with medical diagnosis, surgical planning, the design of body implants and ultimately, to help design new drugs by understanding how disease is controlled at the molecular and physiological level.

The virtual bodies already have a name - DigiMe. But there are still issues to be worked through such as privacy concerns, before DigiMe goes mainstream.