DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Physics-Led Development of Brain Digital Twin Technology Using Low-Cost MRI and EEG in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Description

Digital twins - living, data-driven models that mirror real-world systems - are transforming engineering and medicine. A brain digital twin would enable researchers and clinicians to simulate, predict and personalise treatments for neurological diseases. However, this technology remains confined to a few elite laboratories that rely on multimillion-pound magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners and high-density electroencephalography (EEG) arrays to acquire essential in vivo data. To reconstruct a brain digital twin, for example using the virtual brain (TVB) platform, one must: 1) reconstruct the brain structural connectivity between grey matter regions (i.e. a personal connectome), 2) associate each grey matter region with a meso-scale neuronal model of its function and 3) run simulations of brain functional dynamics, optimising the simulated signal on empirical MRI data, and - when available - constrain it by EEG properties. This framework is complex and currently inaccessible to most. Our project aims to break this barrier by bringing the physics of brain digital twins to the heart of Africa. Unlike engineered systems, the brain has no blueprints. Yet, every neuronal spike, oscillating network, and macroscopic rhythm can be modelled using physics: electrodynamics, nonlinear dynamics, thermodynamics and network theory. And the instruments needed for in vivo data acquisition in humans (MRI and EEG) work on the physics principles of electromagnetism. The entire construction of a brain digital twin, therefore, has its foundations on core physics principles, translated by engineering into machines and computer simulations. By teaching and exploiting these principles, we can model the brain and develop a framework that works with minimal hardware while preserving scientific fidelity. Led jointly by investigators in the UK and Uganda, and partnered with experts in Pavia (Italy) and Marseille (France), with collaborators in Leiden (Belgium) and UK, we will: 1. Train a new generation of African and UK scientists in the physics that underpins brain activity, from single neurons to whole-brain networks; 2. Demystify and teach the physics of MRI, EEG and new low cost combination of EEG with tomographic imaging, fast neural Electrical Impedance Tomography (fnEIT), enabling local teams to build and maintain low-cost, energy-efficient data-acquisition systems; 3. Prototype ?minimum-technology? brain digital twins, using ultra-low-field MRI and portable EEG to show that accurate virtual brains can be built outside elite facilities. Utilisation of fnEIT within the brain digital twin framework will be explored too. This work directly addresses urgent health needs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Epilepsy, for example, is highly prevalent across Africa yet vastly under-diagnosed and therefore untreated. A validated brain digital twin offers a safe, affordable ?in-silico? platform to study seizures, test interventions and tailor treatment, without the prohibitive costs of conventional diagnostic workouts, including conventional neuroimaging, high-density EEG and in some cases extremely expensive stereoelectroencephalography. Beyond medicine, the project delivers capacity building and equitable research infrastructure. It strengthens African physics and engineering programmes, which in this context are tightly connected, creates open training resources, facilitates attendance to international conferences and organises a dedicated international ?School of Brain Digital Twin's Physics? in Uganda, ensuring lasting impact, long after the grant ends. By uniting cutting-edge neuroscience with fundamental physics and frugal engineering, we will democratise one of the most exciting frontiers in science and prove that world-class brain modelling needs not be limited by geography or wealth.

Objectives

Digital twins - living, data-driven models that mirror real-world systems - are transforming engineering and medicine. A brain digital twin would enable researchers and clinicians to simulate, predict and personalise treatments for neurological diseases. However, this technology remains confined to a few elite laboratories that rely on multimillion-pound magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners and high-density electroencephalography (EEG) arrays to acquire essential in vivo data. To reconstruct a brain digital twin, for example using the virtual brain (TVB) platform, one must: 1) reconstruct the brain structural connectivity between grey matter regions (i.e. a personal connectome), 2) associate each grey matter region with a meso-scale neuronal model of its function and 3) run simulations of brain functional dynamics, optimising the simulated signal on empirical MRI data, and - when available - constrain it by EEG properties. This framework is complex and currently inaccessible to most. Our project aims to break this barrier by bringing the physics of brain digital twins to the heart of Africa. Unlike engineered systems, the brain has no blueprints. Yet, every neuronal spike, oscillating network, and macroscopic rhythm can be modelled using physics: electrodynamics, nonlinear dynamics, thermodynamics and network theory. And the instruments needed for in vivo data acquisition in humans (MRI and EEG) work on the physics principles of electromagnetism. The entire construction of a brain digital twin, therefore, has its foundations on core physics principles, translated by engineering into machines and computer simulations. By teaching and exploiting these principles, we can model the brain and develop a framework that works with minimal hardware while preserving scientific fidelity. Led jointly by investigators in the UK and Uganda, and partnered with experts in Pavia (Italy) and Marseille (France), with collaborators in Leiden (Belgium) and UK, we will: 1. Train a new generation of African and UK scientists in the physics that underpins brain activity, from single neurons to whole-brain networks; 2. Demystify and teach the physics of MRI, EEG and new low cost combination of EEG with tomographic imaging, fast neural Electrical Impedance Tomography (fnEIT), enabling local teams to build and maintain low-cost, energy-efficient data-acquisition systems; 3. Prototype ?minimum-technology? brain digital twins, using ultra-low-field MRI and portable EEG to show that accurate virtual brains can be built outside elite facilities. Utilisation of fnEIT within the brain digital twin framework will be explored too. This work directly addresses urgent health needs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Epilepsy, for example, is highly prevalent across Africa yet vastly under-diagnosed and therefore untreated. A validated brain digital twin offers a safe, affordable ?in-silico? platform to study seizures, test interventions and tailor treatment, without the prohibitive costs of conventional diagnostic workouts, including conventional neuroimaging, high-density EEG and in some cases extremely expensive stereoelectroencephalography. Beyond medicine, the project delivers capacity building and equitable research infrastructure. It strengthens African physics and engineering programmes, which in this context are tightly connected, creates open training resources, facilitates attendance to international conferences and organises a dedicated international ?School of Brain Digital Twin's Physics? in Uganda, ensuring lasting impact, long after the grant ends. By uniting cutting-edge neuroscience with fundamental physics and frugal engineering, we will democratise one of the most exciting frontiers in science and prove that world-class brain modelling needs not be limited by geography or wealth.

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Location

The country, countries or regions that benefit from this Programme.

Uganda