History | External Advisory Board

The NIH Center for Bioelectric Field Modeling, Simulation, and Visualization officially began operations on September 15, 1999. During the first five years, the Center focused on creating an extensible, scalable, scientific problem-solving environment (PSE) and on developing corresponding research to solve real-world bioelectric field problems. We conducted research and development in advanced modeling, simulation, and visualization methods for solving bioelectric field problems and also created BioPSE (Biomedical Problem Solving Environment). BioPSE is an extension to the existing SCIRun, a modular, extensible, integrated software problem-solving environment for bioelectric field problems. The SCIRun software supported interaction among the modeling, computation, and visualization phases of bioelectric field simulation with BioPSE providing specific extensions for the Center.

The structure of SCIRun resembles the dataflow programs originally developed for visualization. We imagined SCIRun as a "computational workbench" in which a user selects tools (software modules) from a set of drawers (categories) and connects them to create a workflow (a network) that performs all the necessary steps. Each tool has different settings by which a researcher may adjust it to the specific task or object at hand. Such flexibility means that a researcher may even keep multiple copies of a particular tool, each with a different purpose and setting. Just as a skilled craftsman may design and fabricate new tools when the complexity of the task so requires, a skilled developer of SCIRun workflows may develop new software modules (or consolidate existing ones into "meta-modules") and add infinitely to the capabilities of the system.

After successfully releasing SCIRun and BioPSE, we began to learn from researchers how they were using the software and what additional capabilities they required. Many researchers indicated that the system of modules was too complicated for some biomedical researchers. By 2004 we had created easy-to-use, application-specific software programs based upon SCIRun. We called these programs "PowerApps". The users saw only the parameters relevant to their current task. However, the workflow was still driven by the underlying dataflow. In 2005, the Center redesigned the package, moving away from a strict link to dataflow and developing in its place truly independent stand-alone applications. Also in 2005, following the NCRR renewal, the Center was renamed the Center for Integrative Biomedical Computing. The Center reengineered SCIRun to separate the underlying filters or modules from the dataflow interface. The Center also began integrating third-party packages into its tools, such as Insight Toolkit (ITK), in turn assisting in the latest generation of Center applications, such as map3d, ImageVis3D, Seg3D, BioMesh3D, and ShapeWorks.

The Center now manages all SCIRun development and support and in August of 2008 merged the full functionality of BioPSE and the "PowerApps" - BioFEM, BioTensor, and BioImage into SCIRun. Results have been released for the dominant operating systems (Windows and Mac/OSX) and for Linux. As of the last renewal of the Center in 2010, there have been over 20,000 downloads of SCIRun,  over 18,000 downloads of Seg3D, and over 4,000 downloads of the CIBC data sets. Since December 2008, more than 10,000 downloads of ImageVis3D have taken place. Since the year 2000, over 200 papers published by scientists outside the Center have included at least one reference to CIBC software or the underlying SCIRun infrastructure. During the same time, members of the Center have been listed among the authors of over 175 publications related to biomedical computing.

The Center's tools assist researchers' investigations in such areas as cardiac electro-mechanical simulation, ECG and EEG forward and inverse calculations, modeling of deep brain stimulation, EMG calculation, determination of the electrical conductivity of anisotropic heart tissue, and a number of other areas. The Center has made significant advances in the area of bioelectric field simulation, modeling, and visualization. We created new approaches to the solution of forward and inverse problems in both cardiology and nuerology, using SCIRun to both carry out the research and as a repository for its products. We developed several new methods for the visualization of three-dimensional data sets and translated award-wining, cutting-edge visualization research into working capabilities in SCIRun, map3D, Seg3D, and ImageVis3D. Because we believe that the ability of researchers to compare their new ideas, techniques, and data with those of other researchers is crucial to scientific process, we have gathered high-quality data sets and made them freely available to the scientific community. We have also released a set of images and associated geometric models, from which we have computed simulations and prepared visualizations. The Center has made every aspect of our research available to other researchers for validation and comparison of their own methods. We believe providing such resources will accelerate progress in biomedical computing and biomedical science in general.