Catalyst: Strategic – New Zealand–United States Biotech Digital Twin Research Programme

The Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI) has developed computational models of human organs and systems. These models extract clinically relevant insights from imaging and physiological data, supporting diagnosis and guiding therapeutic interventions. The ABI has recently extended this modelling framework to span multiple biological scales, from proteins to whole-body systems, enabling applications across both human health and the broader bioeconomy.

This Catalyst project will develop a novel physics-informed AI platform by integrating artificial intelligence with biophysical modelling. In collaboration with the Oden Institute at the University of Texas, a world leader in AI and computational science, it will create ‘digital human’ models that, when continually updated with sensor or clinical data, become ‘digital twins’. These tools will enable the interpretation of complex, multiscale datasets at the population level.

This international partnership brings complementary expertise, data, and infrastructure, significantly enhancing New Zealand’s capability in AI-driven science. The resulting platform will support innovation in precision health, agricultural biotechnology, and population health, where understanding complex biological systems is critical. It will work with our partners at the the Bioeconomy Science Institute to apply these methods and tools to non-human digital twins. Additionally, it will expand our human multiscale models beyond an individual by integrating with ALMA, the Public Health & Forensic Science’s digital twin and synthetic population modelling (with IDI data).

By combining AI’s pattern recognition with the mechanistic rigour of physics-based models, this initiative will unlock new knowledge from high-dimensional molecular and phenotypic data. It positions New Zealand at the forefront of next-generation modelling technologies, delivering long-term impact across both the health sector and the bioeconomy.