BioMojo LLC and the Departments of Mathematics and Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, will develop a preliminary bio mathematical model framework to represent how human tissues interact and behave at their boundaries. Tissue interaction properties (e.g. tensile, shear, friction, and so forth) of connective, epithelial, muscular, and nervous tissue including sub-components of each of these broad categories lack fidelity in current simulation systems. We propose a multiscale network approach, coarse-graining the cellular structure in a tissue sample based on their microstructure obtained through 3D tissue imaging analysis. We will first identify tissue types, boundaries between tissue types, and the microstructure features of the full sample. After clearly demarcating boundaries between any adjacent tissue types, we will then triangulate each domain based on the knowledge we would have gained from studying that type of tissue using continuum models. The long term goal of this effort is to create integrated multi-scale biophysical mathematical tissue models to represent the interactions of aggregated tissues and organs. The models will be demonstrated in an interactive software prototype in Phase II and will ultimately be used for virtual reality, manikin-based, and/or hybrid medical simulation systems.
