CFX
CFX is a leading supplier of Computational
Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software and services. The
company's mission is to improve customers'
efficiency and profitability by delivering
outstanding CFD solutions and support. CFX
employs over 200 staff at eight offices around
the world. Many staff have an international
reputation in the development and application of
its CFD products; CFX-4, CFX-5 and CFX-TASCflow.
CFX has significant expertise in the core
areas of turbulence modelling, high performance
computing and algorithm development, as well as
in challenging applications in the power
generation and chemical and process industries,
safety, and the environment. It is also able to
draw upon the expertise at its other locations
and in its other business sectors, to provide
unique capabilities within one organisation. It
also has access to larger systems, through
collaborations with computer vendors,
universities and other national facilities in the
UK and Germany.
CFX has participated in many CFD-related
projects, including the ESPRIT projects Europort,
Alessia and BloodSim for the exploitation of High
Performance Computing. COPHIT makes use of the
expertise gained in these projects andthe
Brite-Euram project, Admire, with the development
of multiphase models for bubbly flows.
More about the company : CFX homepage
More about contribution to COPHIT: CFX
results
|
Areco
Areco is a small innovative development
organisation located in Grasse, France,
specialising in the design and small-scale
manufacture of devices for aerosol generation,
both industrially and with application in the
investigation and treatment of respiratory
disease. Most recently it has developed an
ambulatory nebuliser designed for low-cost
micropulverisation and suitable for use both in
the hospital and homecare environments.
The company was established six years ago as a
collaborative venture to exploit a new
nebulisation technology that has resulted in a
series of products based on a compact reliable
and easily-handled nebuliser system. Developments
have centred equally on the core aerosol
technology and on sophisticated control
electronics systems. The company collaborates
with a variety of industries in France, Germany,
the Netherlands and in Japan, and has also
developed partnerships with research centres
(CEMAGREF, INRA, CIRAD, CTIFL, ONERA, Ecole des
Mines) to maintain its technological advantage.
At the European level, Areco has successfully bid
for a EUREKA project. This began in 1999.
More about the company: Areco
homepage
More about contribution to COPHIT: Areco results
|
Aventis
Aventis ranks amongst the top 10
pharmaceutical companies in the world. The
company conducts business on every continent,
although historically it is well established in
Europe. Aventis is dedicated to improving human
health by developing innovative medicines
that allow people to enjoy longer healthier
lives. A core business for the company is the
treatment of respiratory diseases, and more
recently the innovative use of pulmonary delivery
for the treatment of non-respiratory diseases.
Recent major activities have included the
successful transition from CFC to HFA based
aerosol products. Additionally the innovative dry
powder system (Ultrahaler) is being developed.
Aventis has specific expertise in each of the
following relevant fields:
- Physical and chemical properties of drug
products, propellants and additives such
as surface tension, viscosity, boiling
point, vapour pressure, density, critical
temperature, critical pressure,
dielectric properties, solubility,
concentration, zeta potential, refractive
index, enthalpy of vaporisation,
porosity, flow characteristics, particle
size distribution, particle velocity and
volume fractions. Aventis can also
provide information on composition of
compounds and excipients.
- Respiratory profiles. Aventis has the
capability to measure inspiratory
profiles for large numbers of subjects,
and is skilled in the analysis and
interpretation of such data.
- Clinical evaluation of the model. Aventis
can identify study requirements in terms
of location and training issues and can
supply drug compound for experimental
validation.
- Devices. Aventis can provide DPIs for
evaluation and study. Aventis can also
provide associated Andersen impactor data
and other device performance measures.
- Aventis has a substantial modelling
facility that includes the CFX modelling
software.
More about the company: Aventis homepage
More about contribution to COPHIT: Aventis
results
|
University of Mainz
The 'Klinik und Poliklinik für Radiologie' at
the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz is
probably the most advanced pioneering site in
Europe for the use of hyperpolarised helium in
dynamic functional MR imaging of the lung. The
work in Mainz has led to the widespread
acceptance of 3-Helium MR techniques as the most
promising imaging tool in chest radiology and
respiratory medicine.
The Department of Anaesthesiology with
its Divisions for Intensive Care and Emergency
Medicine is the referral centre of the State of
Rhineland-Palatinate for ventilator-dependent
trauma and ARDS patients. Its Division for
Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia is responsible for
perioperative management within the University
Hospital's pulmonary thromb-endarterectomy (PTE)
program, with a 10-years´ expertise in this
special field. Since 1989, the University's
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery has become
one of the largest and most successful European
sites for surgical treatment of chronic
thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. An active
lung transplantation program was added in 1994.
The research of Professor Heinrichs and Dr.
Weiler at the Department of Anaesthesiology has
been aimed at reducing the invasiveness of
ventilator therapy in ARDS. The group has
clinical and research expertise in the fields of
high-frequency oscillatory ventilation, nitric
oxide, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
Together with the Institute for Informatics, they
have developed and implemented new automated
ventilation and weaning protocols for diseased
lungs, based on closed-loop control of
ventilation and physiological modelling of the
lung. Technical facilities include a
well-equipped laboratory for analysis of lung
function, respiratory mechanics, for studies in a
patient simulator and for large animal
experimentation
During the last 2 years, co-operation with
researchers from radiology and physics has
resulted in the development of new equipment and
techniques for image-based regional lung function
analysis, such as description of the dynamics of
lung aeration in ARDS by multiscan CT, the design
and production of a gas application unit for
hyperpolarised noble gas MRI and the development
of techniques to investigate intrapulmonary
oxygen distribution and regional ventilation by
oxygen-sensitive or ultrafast 3-Helium-MRI.
The Mainz group of anaesthetists, intensive
care staff and clinical physiologists is at
present the only team in Germany with access to
highly hyperpolarised 3-Helium and the technical
facilities for functional studies in animals,
volunteers and patients.
The Department of Radiology has gained
an international reputation for its research in
the field of cross-sectional imaging (CT and MRI)
in diseases of the chest. The work is focused on:
1. The morphological and functional evaluation of
acute pulmonary embolism and chronic
thromboembolic disease using CT and MRI.
2. The early detection of pneumonia in high risk
patients (neutropenic fever).
3. The image post-processing of CT scans for
three-dimensional reconstruction of the
tracheobronchial tree (planning of bronchoscopic
interventions and individualised selection of
double-lumen tubes), the lung and areas of
emphysema (for estimation of lung function and
surgical planning).
4. The automated detection and quantification of
ground-glass opacities, air-trapping and pleural
effusions as a pre-reading and follow-up tool.
Further studies deal with dynamic visualisation
of the respiratory cycle using dynamic multiscan
CT, determination of pulmonary time constants and
cardiac MRI, including assessment of bypass
grafts, cardiac perfusion before and during
stress, and myocardial infarction.
He-3 MRI of pulmonary ventilation was first
implemented in 1996. Initial studies in healthy
volunteers and patients with different lung
diseases have been carried out yielding normal
findings in non-smokers with a quite homogeneous
distribution of ventilation, and pathological
findings in patients and smokers with pronounced
ventilation defects.
A dedicated gas delivery device has been
developed and constructed. It allows for accurate
administration of hyperpolarised He-3 gas as a
bolus at different points within the tidal
volume. The volume of He-3 administered is
measured, opening the way to quantitative
functional imaging of ventilation. The MR
sequences have been improved: breath-hold
acquisition for demonstration of ventilated
airspaces is done in about 8 sec., dynamic
acquisitions for the analysis of the distribution
of ventilation are performed with a temporal
resolution of 130 ms. Together with the
Department of Anaesthesiology and the Institute
of Physics a technique that makes use of the
oxygen-dependent loss of signal intensity has
been introduced to measure the intrapulmonary
oxygen concentration.
More about the department: University
of Mainz homepage
More about contribution to COPHIT: Uni Mainz
results
|
INO Therapeutics
GmbH
INO Therapeutics GmbH was formed in 1998 as a
division of AGA Linde Healthcare, which is a
member of the Linde Gas group.
INO Therapeutics GmbH is a global
pharmaceutical company comitted to developing
treatments in the areas of heart and lung
function. INO Therapeutics GmbH has
commercialized the first truly pharmaceutical gas
and is focused on making innovative therapies
available to healthcare professionals and
patients.
INO Therapeutics GmbH is at the centre of
developments in nitric oxide delivery and
monitoring systems having successfully introduced
the INO Therapy in Austria.
More about the company: INO
Therapeutics GmbH homepage
More about contribution to COPHIT: INO
Therapeutics GmbH results
|
University of
Sheffield
Sheffield University and the Sheffield
Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust have for many years
provided an effective combined centre of
investigation into respiratory disease. The
project team include members of the following
Academic Units:
- Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering,
- Respiratory Medicine
- Radiology
Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering
The Academic Unit of Medical Physics and Clinical
Engineering has a strong interest in the
application of simulation to problems in
bioengineering, with particular focus on the
cardiovascular system and on joints including the
knee and finger joints. The Unit is the home of
the Virtual Reality in Medicine and Biology
Group, an interdisciplinary team with committed
representation from clinical departments
including Orthopaedics, Plastic Surgery and
Forensic Pathology, together with Academic
Radiology and Mathematics.
Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering has a
track record in the successful completion of
European programmes, including ‘Knees
Up’ (ESPRIT, Framework 4) and a demonstrator
of the SIGMA (Sheffield Instrumented Glove for
Manual Assessment) glove under Lot 4. It is
currently in the final stages of a major
ESPRIT programme in the simulation of coupled
solid/fluid dynamic systems,
‘Bloodsim’, with emphasis on
cardiovascular applications.
A major strength of Medical Physics and
Clinical Engineering is its location within the
Hospital environment. The sister clinical
department employs approximately forty graduate
staff. Nuclear medicine resources within the
clinical department are significant, with several
gamma cameras in daily use and routine experience
in image reconstruction and SPECT scanning for
both clinical and research purposes.
Respiratory Medicine: Primary Pulmonary
Hypertension and Respiratory Research
Sheffield is a major centre for respiratory
medicine, with a strong team of experienced
researchers combining complementary skills in the
design of equipment and therapies alike, and with
access to the finest clinical and research
technology in the UK. This team was responsible
for the successful production of the pulsatile
nitric oxide delivery system now in routine use,
and recently established the UK's only facility
for identifying the relationship between
ventilation and perfusion in the lung using a
steady-state multiple inert gas balance.
Assistance in both the design and evaluation
of therapies is available throughout Sheffield as
a result of the long-standing collaboration
between the University and the hospitals that
comprise the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS
Trust, which has itself recently become one of
only four Designated Centres within the UK's
National Pulmonary Hypertension Services Network.
Radiology
The recently-strengthened academic MR Imaging
Department has installed two additional scanners
to complement the existing clinical facilities
and provide copious research time. A 3T
small-bore magnet is also available.
The Radiology team has a strong record of
developing new techniques, including the
implementation of multinuclear, functional and
(ultra) fast MR imaging techniques. Recent
appointments have been made specifically to
strengthen the development of clinical research
and there is wide experience of the diagnosis and
therapy of respiratory disease.
More about the departments: University
of Sheffield: Medical
Physics, Radiology
More about contribution to COPHIT: Sheffield
results
|
|
