Flagship projects

Modelling human muscle to predict its trajectories

PRISM: modelling human muscle to anticipate its trajectories and its response to treatment

Andrew Ho, PhD

PRISM aims to create personalised human muscle models, derived from skin cells, that can reproduce the complexity of muscle tissue and track how it changes over time. The goal is to better understand the mechanisms of neuromuscular diseases and to predict the response to treatment.

Scientific challenge

Current models do not faithfully reflect human muscle: animal models differ from human biology, cell lines are poorly representative, and muscle biopsies are rare and invasive. These limitations prevent the study of muscle dynamics, which are nonetheless central to disease progression and to treatment efficacy. Having human models that are both readily accessible and able to evolve over time is a major challenge for research and for medicine.

Key questions to unravel

The team wants to determine how muscle changes over time, how it adapts or deteriorates depending on the disease context, and why some patients respond differently to treatment. The project also seeks to identify biological signatures that can be used to classify diseases, assess their severity and anticipate muscle trajectories.

Scientific and methodological approach

The researchers reprogram skin cells into muscle cells, creating a model that is specific to each patient and non-invasive. These cells are then cultured in biomimetic hydrogels that reproduce the elasticity and organisation of muscle, and incorporated into microfluidic devices that make it possible to control their environment. Sensors continuously monitor key parameters (calcium signals, energy, metabolism, force). The data are then analysed using advanced tools and artificial intelligence to characterise the states of the muscle and predict its response to treatment.

Our project involves creating human muscle models from skin cells, so as to have material that is more readily available and closer to biological reality. We then recreate a suitable environment and use sensors to continuously observe how the muscle functions. The aim is to track how it changes over time and to anticipate the way it responds to disease or to treatment.

Andrew Ho, PhD, researcher at the Institute of Myology, AVATAR platform manager

Expected impact on research and clinical practice

PRISM could transform the study of neuromuscular diseases by providing more representative human models, able to reveal early dysfunction and to test treatments in a personalised way. This dynamic approach could improve disease classification, refine prognosis and support a more predictive form of medicine. The tools developed could also be applied to ageing, to chronic diseases or to recovery after muscle injury.