Can digital brain twins help shape the future of neurosurgery and personalised brain medicine?

Yesterday, Viktor Jirsa, Chief Science Officer at EBRAINS, opened the 6th CAANS  Congress (Continental African Congress of Neurosurgery) in Marrakech, Morocco (13–17 October), bringing the perspective of European digital neuroscience to an international gathering of neurosurgery experts.

In his presentation, “Digital twins in brain medicine and neurosurgery”, Prof. Jirsa explored how personalised computational models of the brain can help researchers and clinicians better understand neurological disorders, predict disease progression and inform treatment strategies. He stressed: 

“EBRAINS has an important role to play in providing digital solutions in support of neurosurgery in resource-limited settings, allowing us to do more with less.”

From research to clinical applications

The potential of this approach is already being investigated in epilepsy. Through initiatives such as EPINOV, personalised brain modelling has been explored to support the identification of epileptogenic networks and improve surgical planning for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.

Building on these advances, the EBRAINS Research Infrastructure provides the data, digital tools, modelling and simulation capabilities needed to advance brain research and bring computational neuroscience closer to clinical practice and support clinicians.

Looking beyond epilepsy, EBRAINS also coordinates the EU-funded Virtual Brain Twin (VBT) project, which is developing personalised, multiscale brain models, with a particular focus on schizophrenia.

Learn more about the congress: https://neurosurgerymorocco.com/african/