FOR 5151:  Quantifying Liver Perfusion-Function Relationship in Complex Resection - A Systems Medicine Approach (QuaLiPerF)

• Subject Area: Medicine
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 436883643

Complex, extended liver resections ((e)PHx) pose a high risk of postoperative liver failure, especially in case of preexisting liver disease. The goal of QuaLiPerF is to elucidate as yet unknown interactions between surgery-induced changes in perfusion and metabolic function. We will apply a systems medicine approach to generate a multi-scale model of hepatic perfusion and function, which will prospectively improve prediction of function and risk stratification in patients subjected to (e)PHx.Our project aims are (1) to quantify and improve understanding of the relationship between changes in hepatic perfusion and selected metabolic functions at all relevant physiological scales; (2) to generate validated and integrated spatially resolved dynamical models for robust prediction of liver function after resection and during regeneration; and thus (3) to create the basis for clinical translation into a surgical planning model for prediction of the individual postoperative hepatic function and its course during recovery.We will achieve these goals by integrating systems biology methods and imaging techniques as well as multimodal, longitudinal individual patient data. Due to the broad scope of the project, a joint effort of experts from different fields is needed: experimentalists, clinicians, bioinformaticians, modelers and experts for data integration.Our long-term vision is the translation of the multi-scale model describing perfusion-function interactions into a virtual visualization tool. This will enable a precise prediction of liver regeneration and post-surgical morbidity and mortality already when virtually planning the surgery.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• Computational modelling of liver metabolism and function (Applicant König, Matthias )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Dahmen, Uta )
• Impact of hepatic perfusion on lobular and lobar distribution of test compound metabolism in rats (Applicant Dahmen, Uta )
• In vivo assessment of liver function, perfusion and fat distribution in the animal model by using MRI (Applicant Reichenbach, Jürgen R. )
• Modeling hepatic regeneration and four-scale test compound metabolism (Applicant Schwen, Lars Ole )
• P1 - Metabolic profiling of the hepatic sinusoid (Applicant Christ, Bruno )
• P4: Transcriptome, hepatic function, regeneration after (e)PHX and gut microbiome (Applicant Marz, Manja )
• P5: Statistical methods for data integration into multi-scale models and uncertainty tracking (Applicant Radde, Nicole )
• P7 - Modeling of function-perfusion-deformation interaction on liver lobulus and cellular scale based on a bi-scale continuum FEM model (Applicant Ricken, Tim )
• Service Project: Data Management (Applicant Dahmen, Uta )

• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Uta Dahmen