Whole person reference physiome research and coordination center - our proposal for the whole person physiome research and coordination center (WPP-RCC) will coordinate a multi-tier network of…

The National Institute of Nursing Research (CFDA 93.361) awarded Stanford University a $1.0 million Cooperative Agreement on August 8, 2025, to establish the Whole Person Physiome Research and Coordination Center (WPP-RCC). The center will coordinate a multi-tier collaborative network of clinical and scientific researchers to design, curate, and develop an integrated physiological map of the healthy male and female body. This digitized whole person physiome resource will transform anatomical and physiological data into computational models for analyzing clinical data and interrogating dynamic interactions within the human body. The WPP-RCC will operate through September 2028 under the direction of a multidisciplinary leadership team with expertise in precision medicine, computational biology, integrative physiology, molecular physiology, and cyberinfrastructure. The center will formally integrate NIH stakeholders and interface with existing large-scale efforts in organ and molecular atlasing, biological modeling, and tool development.

The primary deliverables include development of an accessible, easy-to-navigate WPP portal serving as a searchable repository for all physiome resources to maximize utility for broad scientific and clinical research communities. Sub-awardee institutions—The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Indiana University, and the University of Pennsylvania—will contribute specialized expertise in pediatric research, translational science, and multi-institutional collaboration. The center will deploy a consensus-building strategy across decision-making layers and integrate domain experts in organ systems, physiology, ontology, bioethics, and modeling to ensure the WPP-RCC serves evolving NIH whole person initiative needs.

Whole person reference physiome research and coordination center - our proposal for the whole person physiome research and coordination center (WPP-RCC) will coordinate a multi-tier network of collaboration across clinical and scientific researchers to design and curate the WPP integrated map of the "healthy" male and female body and transform this into models for analyzing clinical data. We outline an approach for iteratively constructing the WPP map and model that defers to domain experts to dictate the scope and content of the map and deploys a strategy for consensus building at each layer of the decision making, coordinating collaboration across the multi-disciplinary team and synergistic mapping and modeling efforts. Our leadership team is composed of experts in precision medicine, big data, collaborative projects / resource building, computational biology (DR. Snyder), integrative physiology, inter-organ communication, collaborative projects (DR. PEI), molecular physiology, practicing physician (DR. Susztak), engineering, computer science, analytical and visualization tools, cyberinfrastructure for large-scale collaborations (DR. Börner). We have defined an approach to integrate additional experts in each organ system, physiology, ontology, modeling, and bioethics, and interfacing with existing large-scale efforts in the areas of organ and molecular atlasing (e.g. HRA), biological modeling and tool development (e.g. combine, harmony). We formally integrate NIH stakeholders into the organization of the RCC and will evolve our processes to respond to the needs of the NIH whole person initiative. The goal of the WPP-RCC is to create a digitized whole person physiome resource for interrogating dynamic interactions within the human body. Our two priorities are for the WPP resources to be accessible and maximally useful for broad scientific and clinical research goals. We will build the WPP portal as an easy-to-navigate repository for all WPP resources (searchable, chat-BOT enabled), with a six-month release cycle to rapidly make available the latest versions of the expert-curated common data element relationship tables, knowledge graphs, conceptual map, and prototype models, and set strict standards for accompanying documentation and protocols, including providing scripts (github for expert users, juptyr notebooks for accessibility) as well as educational material (written and video tutorials). Visualization and analytical tools will be made available in GUI format within the portal for researchers to engage with the WPP resources. To maximize applicability to diverse research needs we will engage a multidisciplinary team in the design of the WPP map / model, employing complementary consensus-building methods, collaborate with our network of external scientific organizations, seek feedback from outside researchers (clinical, scientific, computational) at annual data jamborees, and invite outside users to apply the WPP map / model to their use cases.