Exploring the Virtual Human Twins Research Area

  • 23 October 2025

On 21 and 22 October, two highly engaging events on the Virtual Human Twins (VHT) domain took place, spanning institutional and regulatory insights, technical perspectives, and concrete ongoing projects.

 

21/10 — European Virtual Human Twins (VHT) Initiative: Accelerating innovation and making personalised medicine a reality through virtual human twins

The European Virtual Human Twins (VHT) Initiative illustrated how virtual human models can accelerate innovation and advance personalised medicine. Launched in December 2023, the initiative aims to strengthen healthcare by integrating AI, health data infrastructures (including the European Health Data Space), and supercomputing. It aligns with key European Commission priorities such as the AI Continent Action Plan and the Apply AI and Life Sciences Strategies.

Discussions centred on bringing VHTs into clinical practice. By simulating treatments and predicting disease trajectories, VHTs can support earlier diagnosis, personalise therapies, and reduce reliance on traditional trials, therefore improving outcomes and lowering costs, especially for people with multimorbidity, a core focus for AFFIRMO.

High-level speakers from the European Commission (DG CNECT, DG SANTE, DG RTD), public health bodies, and academia stressed:

  • the quality, security, and interoperability of data;
  • patient trust, transparency, and ethics;
  • and capacity building so clinicians and patients can effectively use VHT tools.

Looking ahead, the Commission expressed continued support through guidance and evolving regulation to help translate VHT potential into patient benefit.

 

22/10 — EU-funded research on Virtual Human Twins (VHTs): fostering collaboration to accelerate innovation

This event brought together leading EU-funded research initiatives focused on Virtual Human Twins (VHTs), including Horizon Europe projects on VHTs for personalized disease management and Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) projects. It provided a unique opportunity to align current research efforts with the strategic goals outlined in the EDITH Roadmap and lay the foundation for collaboration in the development of the upcoming Advanced VHT Platform.

Event plan

Several projects, including TARGET—with whom we collaborate—were invited to share their progress, objectives, insights, and achievements to date:

  • GEMINI — Multiscale digital twins for ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke, developing validated models to improve treatment and illuminate mechanisms; focus on personalisation and clinical integration.
  • DIGIPREDICT  — A twin platform modelling individual pathophysiology and predicting viral-disease progression and cardiovascular impacts, using real-time wearables and organ-on-chip systems.
  • TARGET — Developing health virtual twins to advance AF-related stroke prevention and rehabilitation. Predictive AI models aim to identify stroke risk, guide post-stroke recovery, and improve physical and cognitive outcomes. Starting with the heart and extending to other organs, TARGET uses patient data across disease stages for personalised prevention and care. The project also builds a digital community linking patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals, and is exploring collaboration with MAESTRIA project to accelerate innovation in stroke management.
  • dAIbetes — Personalised predictive models for type 2 diabetes, targeting ≥10% error reduction using data from 800,000 patients and advanced AI.
  • ARTEMIS — Multi-organ models for MAFLD and its cardiac complications, with AI-driven clinical validation to bring VHTs closer to practice.
  • TETRIS  — Personalised risk scores (clinical, genetic, imaging) to anticipate long-term cardiac, pulmonary, and secondary-tumour risks after radiotherapy, plus digital-twin trajectory simulations for precise decisions.
  • STRATUM — A 3D decision-support tool to assist brain-tumour surgery with real-time, data-driven insights, moving toward clinical validation.
  • DTRIP4H — A decentralised twin ecosystem linking European research infrastructures, blending real and synthetic data for cancer, drug discovery, and precision medicine, with strong ethics and AI governance.
  • CERTAINTY — Virtual patient twins to personalise adoptive cellular immunotherapies in cancer by combining in silico, real-world, and in vitro evidence.

 

These projects are part of a wider drive to bring Digital Twin and AI solutions into personalised healthcare, that means from diabetes and cancer to stroke and beyond. Their real-world value will depend on connecting diverse datasets, developing reliable AI models, and iterating these systems so they meet clinical needs and improve outcomes.

Collectively, the events provided a clear snapshot of a rapidly advancing VHT ecosystem and clarified the potential impacts and benefits for the future of healthcare.