The next in this series of SCI’s free online talks explores the emerging science and technology of human digital twins.
Digital twins are data-driven virtual replicas of individuals that could, one day, be used to model biological processes from molecules through to entire organ systems.
These digital twins could transform medicine from reactive to predictive, personalised and preventive. For example, a digital twin could help tailor therapies to an individual, test drugs in silico before their real-world application, and forecast the best diet or lifestyle choices for health maintenance or disease prevention.
Digital twins wouldn’t just benefit individual patients but could also inform population-level health strategies and push medicine towards a future where health interventions are tailored before disease occurs.
C&I spoke to one of the speakers for this SCItalks session, Dr Roger Highfield who, along with Peter Coveney, is the author of Virtual You, a book looking at the future of digital twins. Dr Highfield is the science director at the Science Museum Group, and was the science editor of the Daily Telegraph for two decades and the editor of New Scientist between 2008 and 2011. He has written seven books and published thousands of articles in newspapers and magazines.
C&I: What is a digital twin?
Highfield: A digital twin is best thought of like a weather forecast but for your body. Just as meteorologists build computer models of the atmosphere to predict whether it will rain tomorrow, scientists are beginning to build models of you, using data about your genes, organs, blood pressure and other measurements, to predict what might happen to your health next - think of it as a 'healthcast'.
In this sense, a digital twin isn’t just a copy; it’s a working simulation. You can “run the forecast” and ask, for example: what happens if this person takes a particular drug?
Like weather prediction, it won’t be perfect but it could become increasingly useful for seeing what lies ahead, making medicine genuinely personalised and predictive.
Or to put it another way, if seeking the right antibiotic, wouldn't it be better to try them out on your twin rather than use you as a guinea pig?
What would digital twins mean for the future of healthcare?
If this approach matures, healthcare starts to look much more like forecasting and prevention than reaction and repair. Instead of waiting for disease to appear, doctors could use your digital twin and your data (not an AI trained on population data, which only gives average insights) to anticipate risks and test interventions in advance that work for you, trying out treatments virtually before using them in real life.
This could shift medicine from broad averages to genuine personalisation and prediction. Rather than advice based on what works “for most people,” decisions could be guided by what works for you, because your digital twin has already explored the possibilities.
How far are these from being a reality? How soon will I have one and how will it change my life or healthcare?
As I explained with Peter Coveney in our book Virtual You, we are already seeing early versions: models of individual organs, notably heart simulations which are very realistic, simulations used in drug development, and to predict the spread of pandemics.
But a full, faithful digital twin of an entire person remains a major scientific and technical challenge, requiring vast amounts of data and computing power. Progress is likely to be gradual rather than sudden.
Where things will get especially interesting is the idea of many virtual versions of you. Instead of a single twin, you could have thousands of slightly different “yous,” each exploring different futures: one tries a new diet, another changes sleep patterns, another takes a medication. By comparing these parallel lives, scientists and clinicians could begin to understand not just what might happen, but what choices lead to better outcomes—turning your future health into something closer to an experiment you can safely run in advance.
This SCItalks session: How building your Digital Twin would revolutionize medicine and change your life takes place online on Wednesday 15 July at 4pm, and is free to attend.
To find out more and register for this event visit the SCItalks page on the SCI website.
SCI’s SCItalks are given by the most prominent and influential academics, thinkers and industry leaders who are working to translate scientific innovation into societal impact. These talks form part of SCI’s charitable outreach which seeks to create a public conversation about science-based topics in a way that is accessible to all.
You can find the first two talks from this series of three SCItalks here:
- SCItalks: Hacking the brain's hunger code
- SCItalks: Why is cell and gene therapy the future of medicine?
Chemistry & Industry (C&I) magazine reports on the people, the scientific advances and the industrial innovations being harnessed to tackle society's biggest challenges. C&I covers advances in agrifood, energy, health and wellbeing, materials, sustainability and environment, as well as science careers, policy and broader innovation issues. C&I’s readers are scientific researchers, business leaders, policy makers and entrepreneurs who harness science to spark innovation.
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