Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology is a leading international review journal with an impact factor of over 6.3 (journal citation reports 2008). It covers the ground between the physical and biological sciences and includes topics in systems biology as well as molecular biology. This special issue will cover modelling of soft tissue motion. In contrast to modelling for systems biology, which often involves problems that take significant time to solve, the focus of this issue will be efforts towards realistic and real-time biomechanical modelling for simulation, registration, motion analysis and surgical guidance. Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Progress towards real-time modelling of soft tissue
• Fast non-linear finite element modelling
• Accuracy vs. speed issues
• Efficient and/or parallel/GPU implementation
• Mass spring and finite difference methods
• Meshless and novel modelling techniques
• Fast collision detection and multiple organ models
• Inverse modelling and model parameter estimation from strain imaging
• Model validation by comparison with real tissue motion

High quality manuscripts are invited for this special issue. There will be a thorough peer review process overseen by the sub-editorial committee. Papers may include subject matter submitted to relevant conferences, such as ISBMS or MICCAI, but the journal article must cite this work and be a new publication providing greater depth in discussion of methodology in addition to any updated or more detailed results. The timeline for submissions is as follows:

• Deadline for submission: 29th January 2010
• Notification of acceptance: 29th March 2010
• Deadline for final revised version: 28th May 2010
• Expected publication: September 2010

PBMB has a wide readership and, with this in mind, authors should define terms that may not be familiar to those outside their field. To demonstrate real-time modelling we encourage authors to submit video demonstrations of their work as supplementary material. Instructions for authors can be found on the submission site: http://ees.elsevier.com/pbmb

Authors should register for this site at an early stage. When submitting a paper, in the field “Choose Article Type” ensure you select “Special Issue: Soft Tissue Modelling”. There is no official page limit for PBMB, but we expect submissions to be no more than 12 pages to help expedite the reviewing process.

Informal enquiries may be made to eddie.edwards@imperial.ac.uk