This is a research project by Professor Amanda Randles from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University (USA), which received a $250,000 award from the Association for Computing Machinery.
Professor Randles has developed a model using smartwatches or similar devices that continuously provide data into a virtual simulation of your entire body, allowing doctors to closely monitor your health on a personalized level. This approach can effectively prevent and treat chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
In the case of heart disease, doctors can determine when a patient needs to have a stent placed to improve blood flow to the heart in a non-invasive manner. Thanks to the “virtual friend”, doctors can predict the patient’s heart progression and respond to treatment methods with medication. It can also help doctors evaluate the success rate of heart surgery before making any decisions. The “virtual friend” can also assist in tracking circulating cancer cells in the blood, which can sometimes adapt in another part of the body and form new tumors known as metastases.
Virtual simulation by Professor Amanda Randles from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University (USA) (Photo: NOPPARIT/CANVA PRO).
Professor Randles is monitoring cancer cell movement by varying different parameters, such as how the size of the cell nucleus affects its movement.
When enough data about the characteristics of different cells and how they move is gathered, doctors can better predict how and where certain cancer cells will metastasize.
