Working Group: Virtual Twins of Human Organ Systems

Coordinators

Johannes Weickenmeier (University of Oxford, United Kingdom; lead)
Mathias Peirlinck (Delft University of Technology; Netherlands)
Martin Genet (École Polytechnique, France)
Aisling Ní Annaidh (University College Dublin, Ireland)
Silvia Budday (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen, Germany)

Contact: johannes.weickenmeier@eng.ox.ac.uk

Update February 2026

The ESB Working Group on Virtual Twins of Human Organ Systems has decided to pursue four main activities:

(1) We will prepare a consensus paper on minimal requirements for validation of virtual twins of various organ systems. While computational modeling is an exciting field that generates tremendous new knowledge about various organ systems, there is an urgent need to validate these models against suitable data. If this step does not happen, it will remain challenging to have clinical impact. Therefore, we intend to define guidelines and highlight minimal requirements for model validation that should be followed by the computational biomechanics community.

(2) We will organize a special issue on “State of the Art Virtual Twin Modeling of Human Organ Systems”. While we identify the right venue for the special issue, we invite you to register with the working group so we can keep you updated.

(3) We will invite leading experts in the virtual twin modeling field to present as part of the ESB Webinar Series. We would welcome (self)nominations to give a talk related to the topic. Ideally, we would like to learn about examples were virtual twins had clinical impact.

(4) We will prepare a virtual twin-focused workshop application to bring together colleagues working on the topic. We envision a multi-day workshop that explores state of the art, promotes discussion and exchange on how to increase the clinical impact of biomechanics research, and learn about successful examples where virtual twins have impacted drug development, surgery planning, disease diagnosis/prognosis, among other applications. We plan for the workshop to be in 2027 or 2028.

The working group is inviting anyone interested in any of these projects to reach out and inquire about possible involvement. Please feel free to register your interest here:

Registration: ESB Working Group on Virtual Twins of Human Organ Systems – Fill out form