Svetlana Komarova first began studying bone as a postdoctoral fellow at NASA, where her research was focused on the bone loss that happens to astronauts during space flight. Now, with decades of expertise under her belt, she leads a lab that uses computational modelling to understand the role of bone in the body's overall health — including during space flight, an area that still fascinates her to this day.
Looking at a skeleton, you may have the illusion that bone is something static and unchangeable. In an actual human body, this couldn't be further from the truth, as Komarova's research shows. Bone plays a role in numerous biological processes from metabolism to calcium homeostasis (the process of how the body keeps calcium levels stable, which often involves bones as storage vaults where calcium can be deposited or withdrawn as needed).
"One of our key areas of focus is to understand how these different functions can interact with each other and affect each other."
One issue with studying bone, Komarova explains, is that "it's a very slow organ and it takes a long time to change." Although the effects of some processes or treatments can be seen within days, many changes at the tissue level can take months or even longer.
This is where Komarova's creation of digital twins is invaluable. The concept of digital twins originated in the field of engineering, Komarova says, and typically described an exact replica based on a physical machine. Within the context of her biomedical engineering research, it's a bit different. Her digital twins are digital representations of a biological system, something much more challenging to recreate precisely.
The digital twins, created through a complex process using mathematical modelling and computer tools, are essentially simulations of bone that behave exactly like regular bone would. This allows researchers to manipulate the digital twins to gain critical insights into how various processes, from diseases to treatments, might affect a bone.
"Digital twinning allows you to build different scale models to compare how something looks at very early stages versus very late stages, exploring how the processes are connected and how they co-ordinate with each other."
