Computor simulation

Mona Nasser, Clinical Lecturer in Evidence Based Dentistry at Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, is to present a lecture at an international conference in Barcelona which links the writings of a 10th-century medical philosopher to the use of computer simulation as an alternative to using animals in medical research.

Avicenna Event 5 will take place in Barcelona on June 4-5. Avicenna is an international organisation which aims to promote and develop so-called in silico clinical trials, where computer simulation is used in place of animals for clinical research. It is funded by the European Commission and works with the biomedical industry and academic research institutions across Europe to develop the technology, methods, protocols and standards required for in silico clinical trials to become a reality.

Avicenna’s name comes from the Latinised name of Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abd Allah ibn Sina, a 10th-century physician and philosopher from Persia who wrote the celebrated medical treatise “Canon of Medicine”. Running to five books, the Canon of Medicine remained the most popular medical textbook in the world for the next six centuries.