Model System
Thanks to the recent spectacular advances in the "-omics" disciplines and in information technology, the biosciences are facing a paradigm shift: exploitation of quantitative biological data for the in silico simulation of complex life processes. This newly emerging research field, now termed systems biology, combines concepts from several disciplines including molecular biology, chemistry, mathematics, the physical-, medical- and the engineering-sciences in a holistic approach to study and better understand complex biological systems, as for example living cells.
During the first and second period of the BMBF funding priority HepatoSys the liver and its main cell type, the hepatocytes will be in the focus of research.
The liver is a highly complex biochemical power plant which produces, modifies or metabolises up to 10.000 different substances per day while it supplies the organism with proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. A majority of these activities can be linked to hepatocytes. This makes them a most relevant research object for applications in medicine, pharma research, and nutrition.