SPP2311

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SIMulation supported LIVer Assessment for donor organs (SimLivA) - Continuum-biomechanical modeling for staging of ischemia reperfusion injury during liver transplantation

PIs: Prof. Uta Dahmen, Prof. Tim Ricken, PD Hans-Michael Tautenhahn, Dr. Matthias König

Co-design of modeling, animal experiments and clinical evaluation. The objective is to predict the impact of steatosis-induced mechanical alterations and cold ischemia on early ischemia reperfusion injury in the marginal liver graft. Animal and human data is used for parameterization of the continuum-mechanical PDE-ODE model of the liver lobule. Models adapted to the respective data sets predict ischemia reperfusion injury, which is validated against animal and human data.

Aim:

Our co-designed interdisciplinary project “SIMulation supported LIVer Assessment for donor organs (SimLivA)” aims to mathematically model the impact of mechanical alterations of the (steatotic) marginal liver graft and cold ischemia on early IRI. We address the following research questions:
(i) How to co-design computational methods, experimental studies, clinical processes, and technical workflows?
(ii) How to improve the multiscale continuum-biomechanical model for prediction of IRI?
(iii) How to obtain experimental and clinical data that are essential to quantify the relationship between steatosis, ischemia and reperfusion injury?
(iv) How to evaluate the clinical usability of the model?

Flow chart of key steps of liver transplantation i) Organ procurement. Donor condition (e.g. obesity) affects graft quality (e.g. hepatic steatosis). ii) Organ transport. Graft is stored in a cold preservation solution for the transport (cold ischemia time), leading to energy depletion and ischemic damage of unknown severity. iii) Organ transplantation. Reconnecting graft and recipient blood vessels initiates reperfusion and reoxygenation of the transplanted graft, resulting in ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI). iv) Outcome. Within 48h after transplantation, severity of IRI (damage and function of the graft) can be assessed (delayed graft function/primary non-function), indicative of graft and patient survival. The three time-critical decision points to accept or reject a liver graft are (1) before procurement; (2) after procurement and (3) immediately before transplantation.

Distribution of work packages in „SimLivA“ between clinics, animal experiments, as well as ODE and PDE modeling.

Description:

Background:

Liver transplantation is the only curative treatment option for acute and chronic end-stage liver disease. Demographic change and western lifestyle result in an increasing rate of elderly multi-morbid potential recipients and donors. Liver grafts from such donors, so-called marginal liver grafts, are often affected by hepatic steatosis compromising the quality of the donor organ substantially. One reason is the alteration of the tissue structure, resulting in an impaired perfusion, which in turn affects hepatic metabolism and organ function. In case of a marginal graft, the surgeon is faced with the clinical decision to either accept or reject the organ, significantly increasing the postoperative risk for the recipient or increasing the risk of death on the waiting list, respectively. Two major challenges for marginal grafts are the storage between procurement of the organ and transplantation (cold ischemia time) and damage after reperfusion (ischemia reperfusion injury or IRI).

Methods:

To achieve these goals, we will extend and adapt our coupled continuum-biomechanical multiphase and multi-scale PDE-ODE model of the liver lobule to numerically simulate IRI in dependence of the degree of steatosis and ischemia duration. Experimental and clinical data acquisition for model parameterization and validation is designed in close collaboration with modeling. A proof-of-concept trial for clinical applicability will be performed. Our model couples structure, perfusion and function of the liver via the interplay between mechanical properties of the graft, hepatic sinusoidal perfusion and the affected molecular pathways, which might facilitate these decision processes and is urgently needed. This will be the first step towards an in-silico clinical decision support tool to reach a better decision pro or contra the marginal organ by in-silico predicting hepatic damage and early graft function.

Involved Institutions:

  • Department of General, Vascular and Visceral Surgery; Jena University Hospital
  • Institute of Mechanics, Structural Analysis and Dynamics of Aerospace Structures (ISD); University of Stuttgart
  • Institute for Biology, Institute for Theoretical Biology; Humboldt University Berlin

Applicants:

Prof. Dr. med. Uta Dahmen

Prof. Dr. med. Uta Dahmen

Department of General, Vascular and Visceral Surgery; Jena University Hospital
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Tim Ricken

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Tim Ricken

Institute of Mechanics, Structural Analysis and Dynamics of Aerospace Structures (ISD)
PD Dr. med. Hans-Michael Tautenhahn

PD Dr. med. Hans-Michael Tautenhahn

Department of General, Vascular and Visceral Surgery; Jena University Hospital
Dr. rer. nat. Matthias König

Dr. rer. nat. Matthias König

Institute for Biology, Institute for Theoretical Biology; Humboldt University Berlin
Luis Mandl, M.Sc.

Luis Mandl, M.Sc.

Institute of Mechanics, Structural Analysis and Dynamics of Aerospace Structures (ISD)
Xinpei Chen

Xinpei Chen

Experimental surgery, Department of General, Vascular and Visceral Surgery; Jena University Hospital

Publications

2025

Eckel, Julian Connor; Seidemann, Lena; Albadry, Mohamed; Schicht, Gerda; Skvoznikova, Marija; Nickel, Sandra; Hänsel, René; Seehofer, Daniel; Hiller, Grit Gesine Ruth; Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael; Dahmen, Uta; Damm, Georg

Application of rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry in preclinical and clinical analyses of steatotic liver tissues and cells Artikel

In: Sci Rep, Bd. 15, Nr. 1, 2025, ISSN: 2045-2322.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Wrigge, Rasmus; Sucher, Robert; Haak, Fabian; Meyer, Hans-Jonas; Unruh, Julia; Hau, Hans-Michael; Mehdorn, Matthias; Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael; Seehofer, Daniel; Scheuermann, Uwe

Hyperspectral imaging in living and deceased donor kidney transplantation Artikel

In: BMC Med Imaging, Bd. 25, Nr. 1, 2025, ISSN: 1471-2342.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Eissazadeh, Samira; Fikrova, Petra; Rathouska, Jana Urbankova; Nemeckova, Ivana; Tripska, Katarina; Vasinova, Martina; Havelek, Radim; Mohammadi, SeyedehNiloufar; Sa, Ivone Cristina Igreja; Theuer, Charles; König, Matthias; Micuda, Stanislav; Nachtigal, Petr

Anti-Endoglin monoclonal antibody prevents the progression of liver sinusoidal endothelial inflammation and fibrosis in MASH Artikel

In: Life Sciences, Bd. 364, 2025, ISSN: 0024-3205.

Links | BibTeX

Xu, Fengming; Albadry, Mohamed; Döding, Annika; Chen, Xinpei; Dirsch, Olaf; Schulze-Späte, Ulrike; Dahmen, Uta

The effects of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids on MASLD: a Mendelian randomization analysis and in vivo experiment Artikel

In: Eur J Nutr, Bd. 64, Nr. 1, 2025, ISSN: 1436-6215.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Mandl, Luis; Goswami, Somdatta; Lambers, Lena; Ricken, Tim

Separable physics-informed DeepONet: Breaking the curse of dimensionality in physics-informed machine learning Artikel

In: Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, Bd. 434, 2025, ISSN: 0045-7825.

Links | BibTeX

Arasteh-Khoshbin, O.; Seyedpour, S. M.; Mandl, L.; Lambers, L.; Ricken, T.

Comparing durability and compressive strength predictions of hyperoptimized random forests and artificial neural networks on a small dataset of concrete containing nano SiO2 and RHA Artikel

In: European Journal of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Bd. 29, Nr. 2, S. 331–350, 2025, ISSN: 2116-7214.

Links | BibTeX

2024

Brodbeck, Maximilian; Egli, Franziska S.; Suditsch, Marlon; Seyedpour, Seyed Morteza; Ricken, Tim

On the influence of non-linearity within two-phase poro-elasticity: Numerical examples and counterexamples Artikel

In: Examples and Counterexamples, Bd. 6, 2024, ISSN: 2666-657X.

Links | BibTeX

Reisch, Cordula; Nickel, Sandra; Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael

Building up a model family for inflammations Artikel

In: J. Math. Biol., Bd. 89, Nr. 3, 2024, ISSN: 1432-1416.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Azhdari, Mohammad; Rezazadeh, Ghader; Lambers, Lena; Ricken, Tim; Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael; Tautenhahn, Franziska; Seyedpour, Seyed Morteza

Refining thermal therapy: Temperature distribution modeling with distinct absorption in multi-layered skin tissue during infrared laser exposure Artikel

In: International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, Bd. 157, 2024, ISSN: 0735-1933.

Links | BibTeX

Pathak, Raghav; Seyedpour, Seyed Morteza; Kutschan, Bernd; Thom, Andrea; Thoms, Silke; Ricken, Tim

Modeling freezing and BioGeoChemical processes in Antarctic sea ice Artikel

In: Proc Appl Math and Mech, Bd. 24, Nr. 2, 2024, ISSN: 1617-7061.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Albadry, Mohamed; Küttner, Jonas; Grzegorzewski, Jan; Dirsch, Olaf; Kindler, Eva; Klopfleisch, Robert; Liska, Vaclav; Moulisova, Vladimira; Nickel, Sandra; Palek, Richard; Rosendorf, Jachym; Saalfeld, Sylvia; Settmacher, Utz; Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael; König, Matthias; Dahmen, Uta

Cross-species variability in lobular geometry and cytochrome P450 hepatic zonation: insights into CYP1A2, CYP2D6, CYP2E1 and CYP3A4 Artikel

In: Front. Pharmacol., Bd. 15, 2024, ISSN: 1663-9812.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Höpfl, Sebastian; Albadry, Mohamed; Dahmen, Uta; Herrmann, Karl-Heinz; Kindler, Eva Marie; König, Matthias; Reichenbach, Jürgen Rainer; Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael; Wei, Weiwei; Zhao, Wan-Ting; Radde, Nicole Erika

Bayesian modelling of time series data (BayModTS)—a FAIR workflow to process sparse and highly variable data Artikel

In: Bd. 40, Nr. 5, 2024, ISSN: 1367-4811.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Gerhäusser, Steffen; Lambers, Lena; Mandl, Luis; Franquinet, Julian; Ricken, Tim; König, Matthias

Simulation of zonation-function relationships in the liver using coupled multiscale models: Application to drug-induced liver injury Artikel

In: [PrePrint], bioRxiv, 2024.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Lambers, Lena; Waschinsky, Navina; Schleicher, Jana; König, Matthias; Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael; Albadry, Mohamed; Dahmen, Uta; Ricken, Tim

Quantifying Fat Zonation in Liver Lobules: An Integrated Multiscale In-silico Model Combining Disturbed Microperfusion and Fat Metabolism via a Continuum-Biomechanical Bi-scale, Tri-phasic Approach Artikel

In: Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology, 2024.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

König, Matthias

Python utilities for porous media analysis and visualization Online

Zenodo, (Hrsg.): 2024.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael; Ricken, Tim; Dahmen, Uta; Mandl, Luis; Bütow, Laura; Gerhäusser, Steffen; Lambers, Lena; Chen, Xinpei; Lehmann, Elina; Dirsch, Olaf; König, Matthias

SimLivA–Modeling ischemia-reperfusion injury in the liver: A first step towards a clinical decision support tool Artikel

In: GAMM-Mitteilungen e202370003, 2024.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Höpfl, Sebastian; Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael; Wagner, Vincent; Radde, Nicole Erika

Marginal Percentile Intervals in Bayesian Inference are Overconfident Artikel

In: IFAC-PapersOnLine, Bd. 58, Nr. 23, S. 19–24, 2024, ISSN: 2405-8963.

Links | BibTeX

2023

Albadry, Mohamed; Kuettner, Jonas; Grzegorzewski, Jan; Dirsch, Olaf; Kindler, Eva; Klopfleisch, Robert; Liska, Vaclav; Moulisova, Vladimira; Nickel, Sandra; Palek, Richard; Rosendorf, Jachym; Saalfeld, Sylvia; Settmacher, Utz; Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael; König, Matthias; Dahmen, Uta

Cross-Species Variability in Lobular Geometry and Cytochrome P450 Hepatic Zonation: Insights into CYP1A2, CYP2E1, CYP2D6 and CYP3A4 Artikel

In: [PrePrint], bioRxiv, 2023.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Azhdari, Mohammad; Seyedpour, Seyed Morteza; Lambers, Lena; Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael; Tautenhahn, Franziska; Ricken, Tim; Rezazadeh, Ghader

Non-local three phase lag bio thermal modeling of skin tissue and experimental evaluation Artikel

In: Heat and Mass Transfer (149), 2023.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Mandl, Luis; Mielke, André; Seyedpour, Seyed Morteza; Ricken, Tim

Affine transformations accelerate the training of physics-informed neural networks of a one-dimensional consolidation problem Artikel

In: Nature Scientific Reports, 2023.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Maheshvare, M. Deepa; Raha, Soumyendu; König, Matthias; Pal, Debnath

A pathway model of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in the pancreatic β-cell Artikel

In: Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2023.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

König, Matthias

Hepatocyte model of ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) Online

Zenodo, (Hrsg.): 2023, besucht am: 30.06.2023.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

König, Matthias; Gleeson, Padraig; Golebiewski, Martin; Gorochowski, Thomas E.; Hucka, Michael; Keating, Sarah M.; Myers, Chris J.; Nickerson, David P.; Sommer, Björn; Waltemath, Dagmar; Schreiber, Falk

Specifications of standards in systems and synthetic biology: status and developments in 2022 and the COMBINE meeting 2022 Artikel

In: Journal of Integrative Bioinformatics, 2023.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Rauchfuß, Falk; Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael; Dondorf, Felix; Ali-Deeb, Aladdin; Settmacher, Utz

Critical Evaluation of Discarded Donor Livers in the Eurotransplant Region: Potential Implications for Machine Perfusion Artikel

In: Annals of Transplantation, 2023.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael; Kindler, Eva Marie; Volmer, Katharina; Zipprich, Alexander; Settmacher, Utz

Lebertransplantation bei alten Patient:innen Buchkapitel

In: Bd. Die Chirurgie, S. 28-35, Springer Berlin, Heidelberg, 94, 2023.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

2022

Albadry, Mohamed; Höpfl, Sebastian; Ehteshamzad, Nadia; König, Matthias; Böttcher, Michael; Neumann, Jasna; Lupp, Amelie; Dirsch, Olaf; Radde, Nicole; Christ, Bruno; Christ, Madlen; Schwen, Lars Ole; Laue, Hendrik; Klopfleisch, Robert; Dahmen, Uta

Periportal steatosis in mice affects distinct parameters of pericentral drug metabolism Artikel

In: Nature Scientific Reports, 2022.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Welsh, Ciaran; Xu, Jin; Smith, Lucian; König, Matthias; Choi, Kiri; Sauro, Herbert M

libRoadRunner 2.0: a high performance SBML simulation and analysis library Artikel

In: Bioinformatics, Bd. 39, Ausg. 1, 2022.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Grzegorzewski, Jan; Brandhorst, Janosch; König, Matthias

Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling of the role of CYP2D6 polymorphism for metabolic phenotyping with dextromethorphan Artikel

In: Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2022.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Bertrand, Fleurianne; Brodbeck, Maximilian; Ricken, Tim

On robust discretization methods for poroelastic problems: Numerical examples and counter-examples Artikel

In: Examples and Counterexamples (2), 2022.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Ricken, Tim; Schröder, Jörg; Bluhm, Joachim; Bartel, Florian

Theoretical formulation and computational aspects of a two-scale homogenization scheme combining the TPM and FE² method for poro-elastic fuid-saturated porous media Artikel

In: International Journal of Solids and Structures, 2022, 2022.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

2021

Christ, Uta Dahmen Maximilian Collatz Bruno; König, Matthias; Lambers, Lena; Marz, Manja; Meyer, Daria; Radde, Nicole; Reichenbach, Jürgen R.; Ricken, Tim; Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael

Hepatectomy-induced alterations in hepatic perfusion and function – Towards multi-scale modeling for a better risk assessment in liver surgery Artikel

In: Frontiers in Physiology (12), 2021.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Seyedpour, Seyed M.; Nabati, Mehdi; Lambers, Lena; Nafisi, Sara; Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael; Sack, Ingolf; Reichenbach, Jürgen R.; Ricken, Tim

Application of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Liver Biomechanics: A Systematic Review Artikel

In: Frontiers in Physiology (12), 2021.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX