Recent progress in multi-scale models of the human atria

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the world's most common cardiac arrhythmia. Due to the complexity of the heart and highly irregular electrical activity during AF it is a grand challenge to underpin the mechanisms underlying the initiation and maintenance of AF. Complimentary to experimental physiology, biophysically detailed models of the heart provide a powerful platform for investigating the substrates that prompt and perpetuate AF. In the last decade, there has been significant progress in the development of atrial models at the cellular, tissue and whole organ levels. This article presents a review of recent advances in modelling of the human atria and their application to understanding AF.