The European Lung Foundation has launched a website for its AirPROM consortium, a group formed “to integrate and enhance the capacities of all partners to deliver the best possible outcome for people with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).” The AirPROM name stands for “Airway Disease Predicting Outcomes through Patient Specific Computational Modelling,” and the consortium unites several existing groups known as EvA FP7, U-BIOPRED, IMI, and BTS Severe Asthma.
According to the site, “This broad multi discipline approach will enable the consortium to develop an integrated multi-scale airways model. This model will built on the legacy of existing models and will be comprised of an integrated ‘micro-scale’ and ‘macro-scale’ airway model informed and validated using established techniques and utilising Europe’s largest airway disease cohort.”
Initially announced on World Asthma Day 2011 (May 3), the AirPROM project is designed to create models of the entire human airway system. The project includes both computational and physical models. At the time, Chris Brightling, project lead, said: “Current treatments for COPD and asthma adopt a ‘one size fits all’ approach. People with these respiratory diseases are therefore missing out on the right treatment to help them manage their condition. These patient-specific models will help us monitor the diseases and how they progress, to make current treatments much more specific and targeted to benefit COPD and asthma patients.”
Consortium members include pharmaceutical companies, universities, and technology firms, including FluidDa, which specializes in functional imaging methods used in OINDP development.
View the new web site.
