About the IUPS Physiome Project

The concept of a Physiome Project was presented in a report from the Commission on Bioengineering in Physiology to the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) Council at the 32nd World Congress in Glasgow in 1993. The term physiome comes from “physio” (life) + “ome” (as a whole), and is intended to provide a quantitative description of physiological dynamics and functional behaviour of the intact organism.

A satellite workshop ‘On designing the Physiome Project’, organised and chaired by Professor Jim Bassingthwaighte, the Chair of the IUPS ‘Commission on Bioengineering in Physiology’, was held in Petrodvoretz, Russia, following the 33rd World Congress in St Petersburg in 1997.

A synthesium on the Physiome Project was held at the 34th World Congress of IUPS in Christchurch, New Zealand, in August 2001 and the Physiome Project was designated by the IUPS executive as a major focus for IUPS during the next decade.

Professor Peter Hunter was appointed Chair of the newly created Physiome Commission of the IUPS in 2000, and is now co-chair with Professor Aleksander Popel of the IUPS Physiome and Bioengineering Committee.