Maastricht Centre for Systems Biology

–

The Maastricht Centre for Systems Biology (MaCSBio)

The Maastricht Centre for Systems Biology (MaCSBio) is the youngest research centre of Maastricht University. As an interfaculty research institute, it is part of the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences (FHS), the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience (FPN), and the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Science (FHML).

With the advent of new high-throughput omics and imaging techniques, vast amounts of biological data are being generated. In order to extract and integrate all meaningful information that lies in these multi-dimensional datasets, innovative systems biology solutions are required. The primary aim of the Maastricht Centre for Systems Biology (MaCSBio) is to facilitate the integration of biological data coming from several empirical domains using mathematical multi-scale modelling approaches. MaCSBio therefore has many collaborations with labs generating scientific data with high field MRI, mass spectrometry, genomic sequencing, gene expression profiling and metabolic profiling.

–

Research lines

There are two research lines within MaCSBio, aimed at developing and applying systems biology approaches to i) personalized prevention of chronic diseases in the ‘obese system’ and ii) modelling experience and disease-induced modifications in neural and genetic networks.

–

Research Line 1: Systems medicine of chronic diseases.

By studying the ‘obese system’, we aim to improve our mechanistic insight into the development of chronic diseases, and to identify new strategies for prevention and treatment based on personalized risk profiles for the obese. We will focus on data- and knowledge-driven approaches to integrate and mathematically model multi-omics data with phenotypic continuous traits, and disease states, in the context of interacting environmental factors. We will make use of the large body of human data and samples available in Maastricht.

–

Research Line 2: Computational and systems neuroscience.

This multidisciplinary research program has the overall goal of achieving new insights into the processes of normal and abnormal experience induced modifications in brain and genetic networks, using mathematical tools and modeling approaches to bridge research domains and spatial scales of inquiry. The startup of the program will focus on i) advancing dynamical systems theories for modeling complex biological networks and on applying these models to study ii) the neural mechanisms of experience-induced changes in healthy brain networks and cognitive processes and iii) the genomic mechanisms underlying disease-induced changes in these networks and processes.