Computational modelling of biological systems: tools and visions

We are currently witnessing the advent of a revolutionary new tool for biomed-ical research. Complex biochemically, biophysically and pharmacologically detailed mathematical models of `living cells ’ are being arranged in morphologically represen-tative tissue assemblies, and, using large-scale supercomputers, utilized to produce anatomically structured models of integrated tissue and organ function. This pro-vides biomedical sciences with a radical new tool: `in silico ’ organs, organ systems and, ultimately, organisms. In silico models will be a crucial tool for biomedical research and development in the new millennium, extracting knowledge from the vast amount of increasingly detailed data, and integrating this into a comprehensive analytical description of biological function with predictive power: the Physiome. Our review will illustrate this approach using the example of the cardiovascular system, which, along with neurophysiology, has been at the forefront of analyti-cal bio-mathematical modelling for many years, and which is about to deliver the rst anatomico-physiological model of a whole organ. Already, electrophysiologically detailed cardiac cell models have been incorporated into mathematical description