Computational Biophysics of the Skin

The accessibility of the skin in vivo has resulted in the development of non-invasive methods in the past 40 years that offer accurate measurements of skin properties and structures from microscopic to macroscopic levels. However, the mechanisms involved in these properties are still only partly understood. Similar to many other domains, including biomedical engineering, numerical modeling has appeared as a complementary key actor for improving our knowledge of skin physiology.

This book presents, for the first time, the contributions that focus on scientific computing and numerical modeling to offer a deeper understanding of the mechanisms involved in skin physiology. The book is structured around some skin properties and functions, including optical and biomechanical properties and skin barrier function and homeostasis, with?for each of them?several chapters that describe either biological or physical models at different scales.

Preface. Foreword. PART 1: Skin color. Multilayer Modeling of Skin Color and Translucency. Dermal component based optical modeling of the skin translucency: impact on the skin color. Mathematics and biological process of skin pigmentation. PART 2: Skin biomechanics. State-of-the-art constitutive models of skin biomechanics. Fiber-matrix models of the dermis. Cellular scale model of the stratum corneum. PART 3: Skin barrier. Mathematical models of skin permeability: microscopic transport models and their predictions. Cellular scale modelling of the skin barrier.Molecular scale modeling of skin permeation. Accessing the molecular organization of the stratum corneum using high resolution electron microscopy and computer simulation. PART 4: Skin fluids and components. Water diffusion through stratum corneum. Accurate multi-scale skin model suitable for determining the sensitivity and specificity of changes of skin components. Model based Quantification of Skin Microcirculatory Perfusion.PART 5: Skin homeostasis. Graphical Multi-Scale Modeling of Epidermal Homeostasis with EPISIM. Heuristic Modeling Applied to Epidermal Homeostasis.

Bernard Querleux is senior research associate at the Worldwide Advanced Research center of L’Oreal Research & Innovation, France. He obtained his doctorate in electronic engineering and signal processing from the University of Grenoble, France, in 1987 and his habilitation in biophysics from Paris-Sud University, France, in 1995. Since 2005, Dr. Querleux is serving as scientific chairperson of the International Society for Biophysics and Imaging of the Skin. Apart from being an expert in functional brain imaging for the objective assessment of sensory perception, his main research interests concern the development of new non-invasive methods, including numerical modeling for skin and hair characterization.