This is a summary of the book titled “Virtual You” written by Peter Coveney and Roger Highfield and published by Princeton in 2023. Digital twins, computer simulations of the human body, are being used by doctors to provide personalized medical care. These simulations would mimic the reactions of the patient to drugs or treatments and alert doctors to potential health issues. The concept of digital twins has been applied to the design of machinery and manufacturing processes, and now scientists aim to create detailed simulations of individual patients. This "Virtual You" would model the functions of the body, including molecular interactions and the workings of the heart, lungs, bones, and brain. This would allow doctors to offer "healthcasts" to predict and prevent specific illnesses, based on variables such as diet and lifestyle. The creation of Virtual You requires amassing health data from sources like lab tests, DNA sequencing, and molecular biology discoveries. However, computer power restricts the level of practical detail, and the necessary granularity depends on the specific use case.

Life sciences, including medical science, have traditionally relied on mathematical expressions to make predictions, but this approach has been less dependent on theory. In the 1950s, British scientists Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley advanced biological theory by describing the function of the axon in longfin inshore squid. Medical science relies on post-hoc explanations of observed phenomena, such as diagnosing and explaining symptoms of a disease. To add a predictive dimension to medical science, data must be transformed into equations that reveal natural laws. This would enable doctors to predict the effectiveness of treatments and diets for individual patients. Creating Virtual You would require new levels of computer power, with the Manhattan Project and the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) leading to advances in simulating molecular phenomena. Advances in modeling efforts have accelerated with the increasing power of supercomputers and artificial intelligence. Simulated cell research could lead to new understandings of molecular biology and new medications.

Cell simulations have become increasingly important in medicine, as they provide insights into the human body's functions and potential treatments. Researchers at Keio University in Japan created a model of the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium in the late 1990s, which was the first bacterium model to address all known gene functions. The University of Connecticut and Mount Sinai School of Medicine used these models to study the kidney, pancreas, and brain. Simulations could be useful in designing personalized medical treatments, drug development, and trials. Researchers are also working to simulate and study human organs, using multiscale and multiphysics approaches. The Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) has been working since the 1990s to model the entire human heart, which can provide insights into heart failure and raise red flags on potential dangers of various heart medications. The BSC collaborates with Medtronic to design simulations for medical device development, such as pacemakers. Numerous projects are underway worldwide to develop schemes for simulating the entire body.

Virtual You simulations could help doctors control inflammation and suppress infections, as well as provide insights into disorders affecting elderly and overweight populations. However, digital twins are generalized and require new types of computers. Researchers may use updated versions of analog computers, such as metamaterials, which can manipulate light waves. Neuromorphic computing, inspired by the human brain, is another approach, with applications like Europe's Human Brain Project. Quantum computers, which use qubits to represent ones and zeroes simultaneously, could be the best future option for work in chemistry and biochemistry.

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