You can also find my articles on my Google Scholar profile.
Karl Munthe, Henrik Finsberg, Samuel Wall, Joakim Sundnes
Published in In Review, 2026
Biological tissue possesses the capacity to grow and remodel in response to changing boundary conditions, a phenomenon described by a plethora of stress-based and strain-based mathematical models
https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-9756487/latest.pdf
Verena Charwat, Adrian Ramirez, Karoline H Jæger, Brennan Kandalaft, Henrik Finsberg, Brian Siemons, Aslak Tveito, Kevin E Healy, Samuel T Wall
Published in In Review, 2026
Abstract Background and Purpose Cardiotoxicity is a major cause for drug failure throughout the drug development process, with particular concern for action potential prolongation and arrhythmia
Giulio Ciucci, Daniela Lorizio, Nicoletta Bartoloni, Mauricio Budini, Andrea Colliva, Simone Vodret, Anh-Vu Nguyen, Lorenzo Ciacci, Bernhard Texler, Benno Cardini, Rupert Oberhuber, Sofia Bindelli, Ilaria Luciana Carlotta Del Giudice, Roman Vuerich, Francesco Riccitelli, Elena Zago, Henrik Nicolay Finsberg, Mattia Chiesa, Gianluca Lorenzo Perrucci, Rossana Bussani, Furio Silvestri, Manuel Maglione, Gaetano Ivan Dellino, Gianfranco Sinagra, Mauro Giacca, Thomas Eschenhagen, Paolo Golino, Giulio Pompilio, Pier Giuseppe Pelicci, Laura Andolfi, Maurizio Pinamonti, Matteo Dal Ferro, Samuel Wall, Francesco S Loffredo, Serena Zacchigna
Published in Science, 2026
The heart rarely develops cancer, and, at the same time, it lacks regenerative capacity, as cardiomyocytes stop proliferating after birth
Published in , 2026
Here we use a statistical atlas of end-diastolic (ED) and end-systolic (ES) biventricular shapes- previously derived from the UK Biobank imaging substudy- to generate meshes for finite element (FE) simulations of ventricular wall mechanics
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2026/01/09/2026.01.07.697811.full.pdf
Jørgen S Dokken, Henrik N Finsberg, Jack S Hale, Marie E Rognes, Matthew W Scroggs
Published in In Review, 2026
The FEniCS Conference 2024 took place between the 12th and 14th June 2024 at the Simula Research Laboratory in Oslo, Norway
https://orbilu.uni.lu/bitstream/10993/67896/1/978-3-032-17396-6.pdf
Published in The FEniCS Project: The FEniCS 2024, 2026
The heart is a dynamic organ that changes its size and shape to regulate its behaviour to the demands of the body, which can change, for example, through body growth, exercise, or the onset of disease
https://orbilu.uni.lu/bitstream/10993/67896/1/978-3-032-17396-6.pdf#page=62
Published in Journal of Open Source Software, 2025
Summary fenicsx-beat is an open-source Python software package for simulating cardiac electrophysiology, built upon the FEniCSx finite element framework (Baratta et al
Published in The Journal of Physiology, 2025
Abstract Heart failure is a cardiac pathology characterized by causing myocardial dysfunction
https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1113/JP288233
Published in Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, 2025
Background and ObjectiveCardiac drug safety assessment is essential to detect molecules with potential adverse effects, particularly those increasing the risk of arrhythmias such as Torsade de Pointes (TdP)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016926072500313X
Published in Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods, 2025
Cardiac safety is a critical aspect of drug development
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1056871925000577
Published in International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering, 2025
Microphysiological systems (MPS) provide a highly controlled environment for the development and testing of human‐induced pluripotent stem cell‐based cardiac microtissues, with promising applications in disease modeling and drug development
Published in Nature protocols, 2025
Cardiac organs-on-a-chip (OoCs) or microphysiological systems have the potential to predict cardiac effects of new drug candidates, including unanticipated cardiac outcomes, which are among the main causes for drug attrition
Published in Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 2025
In cardiovascular mechanics, achieving consensus in simulation results is crucial for reproducibility, and to address gaps in existing benchmarks, we propose new cardiac benchmark problems and solutions that include assessments of passive and active material behavior, viscous effects, and pericardial boundary conditions, with simplified analytical fiber definitions and active stress models for monoventricular and biventricular domains.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045782524007394
Published in Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 2025
Fully coupled cardiac electromechanics simulations have in the last few years become feasible on a tissue and organ scale
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045782525005420?dgcid=author
Published in Journal of Open Source Software, 2024
We introduce gotranx, a General ODE Translator for automatic code generation of ordinary differential equations (ODEs).
Published in Biomedical Physics & Engineering Express, 2024
Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) are an effective tool for studying cardiac function and disease, and hold promise for screening drug effects on human tissue
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2057-1976/ad7268/pdf
Published in Nature Computational Science, 2024
Spatial Modeling Algorithms for Reactions and Transport (SMART) is a software package that uses advanced finite element analysis to efficiently and accurately simulate cell signaling networks and molecular transport in realistic cellular geometries, demonstrating its versatility and effectiveness across various biological systems.
Published in Frontiers in Physiology, 2024
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) presents a significant challenge to right ventricular (RV) function due to progressive pressure overload, necessitating adaptive remodeling in the form of increased wall thickness, enhanced myocardial contractility and stiffness to maintain cardiac performance
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2024.1360389/full
Published in Computational Physiology: Simula Summer School 2023− Student Reports, 2024
Mechano-electric feedback (MEF) is thought to be an important factor in the increased arrhythmic risk observed clinically in heart failure and chronic infarct patients
Published in Journal of Open Source Software, 2023
This work presents SMART, a high-performance simulation package based on the FEniCS finite element library, for modeling and simulating spatially-varying reaction-transport processes in cellular systems. SMART allows for the specification of reaction pathways and supports complex cell geometries obtained from advanced microscopy and reconstruction methods. By addressing the challenges of high dimensionality, non-linearities, and coupling, SMART enables the detailed modeling of cell signaling pathways and the prediction of cellular function.
Published in Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 2023
This study explores a novel measure, the standard deviation of regional wall stress at the time of mitral valve closure (SD_MVC), for assessing response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in heart failure patients. Using a computational modeling framework, the researchers found that patients with lower SD_MVC responded better to CRT, with SD_MVC correlating with long-term response based on end-diastolic volume reduction. These findings suggest that SD_MVC could potentially improve patient selection criteria for CRT implantation. However, further studies with a larger patient cohort are needed to validate these results.
Published in Journal of Open Source Software, 2023
This paper presents a fully coupled electromechanical model to study the effects of cardioactive drugs on the heart. The model combines a human cell electromechanical model with a monodomain partial differential equation representation of the electrical substrate and an incompressible, anisotropic, hyperelastic continuum model. The model is implemented in the FEniCS framework and incorporates iterative conjugate gradient and sparse direct solvers to solve the equations.
Published in Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology, 2023
This study introduces a mathematical and numerical framework for investigating tissue-level cardiac mechanics on a microscale by considering explicit three-dimensional geometrical representations of cells within a matrix. The model explores mechanical differences between the extracellular and intracellular spaces, and sensitivity analysis reveals the significance of extracellular matrix stiffness for intracellular stress under contraction. This work expands upon existing models and offers a new framework to explore complex cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions in cardiac mechanics.
Recommended citation: Telle, Åshild, et al. "A cell-based framework for modeling cardiac mechanics." Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology 22.2 (2023): 515-539. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10237-022-01660-8
Published in Computing in Cardiology Conference (CinC), 2022
This study presents a novel 3D electromechanical (EM) model to simulate the effects of inotropic drugs, specifically Omecamtiv Mecarbil (OM), on human cardiac tissue. The model successfully replicated concentration-dependent drug effects, such as increased active tension, but indicated the need for further development to capture the characteristic delay in time to peak contraction observed in experimental data.
Published in ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science, 2022
This study emphasizes the importance of evaluating arrhythmogenic drugs before market approval and highlights the limitations of current in vitro models using two-dimensional (2D) culture formats. The researchers present a three-dimensional (3D) cardiac microphysiological system (MPS) using human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, which successfully predicted drug cardiotoxicity risks based on changes in action potential duration, beat waveform, and occurrence of proarrhythmic events. The cardiac MPS outperformed existing 2D models and provides a promising platform for rapid and reliable screening of proarrhythmic drug risk.
Published in Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2021
This study highlights the challenges faced in finding effective treatments for COVID-19 and the need for rapid evaluation of potential therapeutics. The researchers developed a cardiac microphysiological system (MPS) that accurately predicted cardiac liabilities associated with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and azithromycin (AZM), including arrhythmias and QT interval prolongation. The MPS provides a high-content screening platform for assessing the cardiac safety of potential therapeutics, allowing for faster and safer access to effective treatments for COVID-19.
Published in Clinical and Translational Science, 2021
This study presents a chronic preclinical drug screening platform, a cardiac microphysiological system, to assess the cardiotoxicity associated with repurposed hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and azithromycin (AZM) polytherapy in the context of a mock phase I safety clinical trial. The platform accurately predicted clinical outcomes and identified biomarkers for negative effects on tissue function, morphology, and antioxidant protection, providing valuable insights for clinicians in designing trials and accelerating access to safe COVID-19 therapeutics.
https://ascpt.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/cts.13038
Published in Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2020
This study aims to improve the usefulness of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) for drug screening applications by addressing their relative immaturity compared to adult cardiomyocytes. By utilizing an updated computational procedure, the methodology can more efficiently identify drug-induced changes and quantitate important metrics, ultimately enhancing the potential for employing stem cell-derived experimental tissues in elucidating drug effects in adult cardiomyocytes
Published in American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, 2019
This study examines the mechanical changes associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) by analyzing clinical data and using computational modeling. The findings suggest that the ratio of right ventricle (RV) to left ventricle (LV) end-diastolic volume can be used as a clinical index for assessing disease severity and estimating RV contractility in PAH patients.
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpheart.00094.2019
Published in Journal of Open Source Software, 2019
pulse is a python package based on FEniCS for solving problems in cardiac mechanics. The user can pick any of the built-in meshes or choose a custom user-defined mesh. A collection of different demos showing how to use the pulse library is found in the repository.
Published in Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology, 2018
This study introduces a data assimilation technique to estimate personalized models of cardiac mechanics with heterogeneous elastic material properties, specifically in the context of myocardial infarction. The method is tested using clinical data, demonstrating good matches to regional strains and providing insights into stress-strain relationships. This is the first application of adjoint-based data assimilation to estimate cardiac elastic heterogeneities in 3D from medical images.
Published in International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering, 2018
This study presents a novel and efficient framework for creating personalized computational models of biventricular heart mechanics. The models, based on data assimilation and patient-specific parameters, accurately estimate important physiological quantities and provide insights into the role of fiber angles on heart function. The framework is highly efficient and may have diagnostic applications for patient-specific cardiac mechanics modeling.
Published in Patient-Specific Computational Modeling, 2018
In this thesis we have developed a framework to effectively build a virtual heart of the individual patient, so that measurements made in the clinic can be incorporated into the underlying mathematical model. Such virtual hearts have been used to study the mechanics of the heart in different patient groups. Furthermore, we evaluated different biomarkers that may have potential clinical value, and evaluated the performance of the method. These simulations can be performed on a regular laptop in just a few hours, which means that this framework can potentially be included as a diagnostic toolbox in the clinic.
https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/62015/PhD-Finsberg-2018.pdf
Published in Journal of Computational Science, 2018
Cardiac computational models, individually personalized, can provide clinicians with useful diagnostic information and aid in treatment planning. A major bottleneck in this process can be determining model parameters to fit created models to individual patient data. However, adjoint-based data assimilation techniques can now rapidly estimate high dimensional parameter sets. This method is used on a cohort of heart failure patients, capturing cardiac mechanical information and comparing it with a healthy control group. Excellent fit (R2 ≥ 0.95) to systolic strains is obtained, and analysis shows a significant difference in estimated contractility between the two groups.
Published in International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering, 2017
This paper discusses the limitations of current data assimilation procedures for personalizing computational models of cardiac mechanics and proposes a new adjoint gradient-based method that can efficiently handle high-dimensional parameters. The method is tested on synthetic and clinical data, demonstrating its ability to produce accurate personalized models of cardiac mechanics.
Published in Institutt for matematiske fag, NTNU, 2014
In this thesis we will study wavelet techniques for image classification in ultrasound(US) images. The aim is to develop a method for classifying the degree of inflammation in finger-joints.We develop and apply the techniques of the windowed scattering transform. This is a wavelet-based technique which is proven to be very efficient in image classification problems. Both theoretical and numerical sides have been considered. We also discuss other possible techniques for classification of US images, in particular a method based on the area of inflammation.
https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/259333/733307_FULLTEXT01.pdf