Organiser

Pablo Villoslada, Center for Applied Medical Research, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

Introduction

Contemporary molecular and cellular biology are increasingly becoming quantitative sciences. With the completion of the human genome project, a complete (or nearly) complete “parts list” is available and ready to use by skillful researchers. However the sheer number of cellular components emphasises the need to understand cells and tissues not as a group of genes, proteins and metabolites, but instead as complex systems. It is impossible to manage large components and intricate interactions with intuition only. Biologists now require quantitative tools widely used in other areas of science such as mathematics and physics. The response is systems biology.

Systems biology (SB) is a growing area that aims to understand biological systems at an holistic level. SB integrates theoretical and experimental research. From the theoretical branch takes methods to study the structure, dynamics and control devices present in life organisms. In particular SB is interested in the topology and behavior over time of biological networks. From the experimental branch SB uses tools that permit the measure of genes, proteins and metabolites at a large scale. For SB genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics are its principal source of data.

As an interdisciplinary field SB tries to take advantage of mathematical, biological, chemical and physical knowledge in order to discover new predictions that can be tested in the laboratory. In the same way, based in data produced by “omics” experiments SB scientists develop new tools that tackle the complexity inherent to biological systems. In practice SB involves an iterative cycle of mathematical modeling, computational simulations, large scale experimental procedures and data evaluation to describe quantitatively a cellular process. Used appropriately, SB methods can represent cellular components and interactions in a physically and biologically realistic manner, incorporate a wide variety of empirical observations, and generate novel and useful hypotheses.

The interest that leading universities, governmental agencies and pharmaceutical industry have in SB is rooted in the fact that computational simulation integrated with experimental data will change the way how we understand biological systems in health and disease. But to realize this promise it is essential to foster a critical mass of scientists that feel comfortable working in the frontier of biology, physics and mathematics.

SB has applications in various areas related to medicine that range from pathological mechanisms to therapeutical strategies. However little is know in the medical profession about the theories and techniques behind SB. We believe that is necessary to inform physicians about the great potential that SB represents for better patient care. This workshop is oriented to establish a permanent link between medical doctors and SB scientists fruitful for both fields but more important fruitful for patients.

The workshop is organized in one tutorials and two modules. The tutorials cover basic biological and mathematical concepts important for SB. The modules are oriented to describe the relation between basic science and patient care and the role that SB has in translational research.

Draft Programme

Venue

Systems Biology in Medicine will take place in Barcelona a the Hospital Clinic.

Registration

Registration is now closed.

Speakers

Teaching Members of the Advisory Board

Ricard Sole, University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
Marta Cascante, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo. Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain
Alfonso Valencia, National Center for Cancer Research (CNIO), Madrid , Spain
Joaquin Dopazo, Reserch Institute Principe Felipe, Valencia, Spain

Guest Lectures:

Luis Serrano, University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
Peter Ghazal, University Edinburgh, UK
Nicolas Le Novere, European Bioinformatic Institute, Cambridge, UK
Nicholas Luscombe, European Bioinformatic Institute, Cambridge, UK
Hans Westerhoff, Manchester Center for Integrative Systems Biology. UK
Steffen Klamt, Max Plank Insitute, Magdeburg, Germany